HC nixes plea for namaz at disputed Ayodhya site

LUCKNOW: A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition seeking permission to offer namaz at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the petitioner for filing the petition without any legal basis. It said the petition was moved only to gain cheap popularity.

A bench of Justice DK Arora and Justice Alok Mathur passed the order on the petition filed by Al-Rahman Charitable Trust. The trustee, Sharif, had moved the petition praying that he be permitted to offer namaz on that part of the disputed site which the high court had ruled in favour of the Muslim side in the civil suit.

Holding that since the Supreme Court had ordered for maintaining a status quo after the said judgment in the civil suit, the bench said before filing such petition, the petitioner must have gone through the actual legal position of the matter.