Lord Ram's birthplace can't be shifted: Advocate to SC

The hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit dispute case took an interesting turn on Thursday with the Hindu side to the suit arguing that Ayodhya being the birthplace of Lord Ram, is integral to Hindu faith.

Arguing for the deity Lord Ram, senior advocate and former Attorney General K Parasaran submitted that a birth place cannot be shifted to another site while a mosque, that has no particular religious significance, can be shifted out and doing so will not affect the Muslims’ right to offer namaz.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had called upon the Hindu side to respond after senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan appearing for original plaintiff Mohammad Siddiq demanded hearing of the case by a Constitution Bench on the question whether mosque is integral to Muslim faith. This view was adopted by the apex court in 1994 in Ismail Farooqui case and Dhavan argued that this reasoning formed the basis of the ruling given by the Allahabad High Court in the Ayodhya title suit case and hence required reconsideration.

Rebutting this demand, Parasaran submitted to the Court that since Dhavan’s client took part in the suit proceeding before HC, the conclusion was binding on them and nowhere was this question of law raised.

Moreover, the Ismail Farooqui case was binding on all Muslim parties as the Sunni Central Waqf Board was heard in the Ismail Farooqui case and the same cannot be questioned in the present proceedings.

Making a comparative analogy on the significance of Ayodhya to Hindus vis-à-vis Muslims, Parasaran said that Ayodhya ranks top among the places of pilgrimage for Hindus being Lord Ram’s birthplace. “To go on pilgrimage and worship therein is an essential part of Hindu religion and practice. That right of the Hindus is a fundamental right to freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution and Hindus cannot be deprived of the same.”

Further, he submitted that “Janmasthan or a birth place” cannot be shifted to another site while a mosque which has no particular religious significance to the Muslim public can be shifted as admittedly, a number of other mosques exist at Ayodhya. The Court will continue hearing of the case on July 6.