Supreme Court has undone its error

To err is human, but it is human too to undo the error. That is what the Supreme Court had done on Tuesday. The three-judge bench headed by chief justice of India SH Kapadia and comprising justices Aftab Alam and KS Radhakrishnan lifted the stay on the Ayodhya verdict given by justices RV Raveendran and HL Gokhale last week.

The apex court had rejected the plea of Ramesh Chand Tripathi that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court should defer the verdict in the title suit concerning Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and that there should be an amicable settlement to the vexatious dispute. This is no mean victory for the judicial system in our country’s democracy.

One of the most important ways of safeguarding a democratic system — apart from free and fair elections and other procedures — is the rule of law. When two individuals or groups have conflicting claims, it is not settled through majority vote or show of strength. It is resolved through appeal to law and reason based on evidence and rational argument. It means that when contestants are unwilling to solve the problem, then the courts have to play the unenviable role of the arbiter.

It also implies that litigants — in this case, the All India Sunni Wakf Board and the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha —  will abide by the judicial verdict. When the Allahabad high court delivers the judgment on Thursday, the courts would have done their job however long it took them to do so, but the onus now lies on the litigants to accept the verdict and look only for whatever legal remedies that that remain open to them.

This would mean an appeal to the Supreme Court by one of the disputants.

Though the focus now shifts to the Allahabad high court, it becomes all the more important for the respective Hindu and Muslims stakeholders in the dispute to accept the court’s verdict with grace and dignity. It would be better if the political parties, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had adopted the Ayodhya temple issue as part of its political agenda, show restraint and not fish in troubled waters.

Similarly, the Congress and other secular parties including the communists should keep away from expressing support or sympathy to the Muslim organisations involved in the case. It is the responsibility of the Central and state governments to assure the people that there will be no
breakdown in the law and order situation.