SC likely to decide today on transfer of Ayodhya case to larger bench, whether to revisit 1994 verdict on namaaz

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce an important verdict on the Ayodhya dispute on Thursday at around 2 pm, according to reports. The court will decide whether the challenge to the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya title suit be heard by a regular bench or a five-judge constitution bench. [caption id=“attachment_5262741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The Muslim litigants have insisted that the matter be heard by a five-judge constitution bench as the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict dividing the disputed land in three parts — giving one to deity of Ramlala Virajman, another to Hindu sect Nirmohi Akhara and a third to the Muslims — relied on a 1994 top court judgment. The Muslim litigants have contested the 1994 judgment, which says that a mosque is not integral to namaaz. In an Ayodhya-related decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday is also likely to take a call on whether to re-examine the issue of whether mosques are an integral part of Islam or whether Muslims can offer prayers anywhere. Earlier in September, the Supreme Court had sought a report from a sessions judge in a Lucknow court on how he intends to complete the trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case involving BJP leaders, LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti within the April 2019 deadline. On 19 April, 2017, the apex court had said BJP stalwarts Advani, Joshi and Bharti would be prosecuted for the serious offence of criminal conspiracy in the politically-sensitive 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case and had ordered a day-to-day trial to be concluded in two years, which is by 19 April, 2019. The apex court had dubbed the demolition of the medieval era monument a “crime” that had shaken the “secular fabric of the Constitution” and allowed the CBI’s plea on restoration of criminal conspiracy charge against the VVIP accused. With inputs from PTI