NEW DELHI — India’s apex court Monday (November 12) rejected an urgent hearing of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi (temple-mosque dispute of Ayodhya) and said the case would be taken up in the first week of January next year, officials said.
According to Xinhua news agency, a right-wing group, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, had petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case earlier than January.
“We have already passed the order. The appeals are coming up in January. Permission declined,” Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was quoted as saying while hearing the plea.
Last month, the top court said the case would be heard in January next year.
Following the court order, demands to pass an ordinance (special government order) for the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site were made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). RSS is considered as an ideological fountainhead of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A series of petitions have been filed in the top court over the matter.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque, in 1992 triggered a countrywide communal riots between Hindus and Muslims and claimed over 2,000 lives, mostly Muslims.
Many Hindus believe that the mosque was built over the birthplace of the Hindu god, Lord Ram.
The Supreme Court has been hearing the petition on the dispute to decide to whom the site belongs.
— BERNAMA
