Lucknow: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Sunday said that it has decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court over the Ayodhya verdict.
“The land of the mosque belongs to Allah and under the Sharia, it cannot be given to anybody," AIMPLB secretary Zafaryab Jilani told reporters after a meeting of the board in Lucknow.
"The board has also categorically stated that it was against taking five-acre land in Ayodhya in lieu of the mosque as Sharia law doesn’t permit that,” Jilani said, adding that senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan will file a reconsideration petition before December 9.
Many board members felt that the apex court had accepted most of the arguments and evidence submitted by them, but delivered the judgment in favour of the Hindu parties.
Many of them also think that the review petition might be rejected but they wish to explore all legal options available following extensive deliberations with lawyers and experts.
Earlier in the day, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind also decided to file a review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s verdict. The decision was taken at the Jamiat working committee meeting on Sunday.
Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said after the meet, "The top court in its judgment said that there was no proof that the mosque was built by demolishing a temple.
It also stated that idols were kept in the mosque in 1949 where Namaz was being offered for more than 90 years. The court termed Babri mosque demolition as illegal.
Yet the mosque was not given to us. So, we will file a review petition and ask for what is rightfully ours. Although, we know that the petition will be dismissed.”
"If we assumed that the court had invoked Article 142 of the Constitution which gives it special powers, for delivering this judgment, it was not based on merit and evidence and defied all reasons and logic," Madani said.
The AIMPLB and Jamiat’s decisions came a week after the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and Iqbal Ansari, the two main litigants in the Ayodhya case, made it clear that they will not go for any review or file any curative petition against the verdict.
Both the bodies will now support other litigants to seek a review of the verdict.
Incidentally, before the SC verdict, the AIMPLB, Jamiat and other Muslim organisations and clerics had asserted that the Supreme Court verdict should be respected by all.
The AIMPLB had a change of mind post-verdict and hinted at a review petition.
Settling the century long case, the Supreme Court, in its verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title case on November 9, said the entire 2.77 acres of disputed land should be handed over to the deity Ram Lalla, who was one of the three main litigants in the case.
The five-judge Constitution bench also directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya to build a mosque.
