(PTI)
The Supreme Court today refused to accord an early hearing on a batch of civil appeals pertaining to the Ayodhya Ram Temple-Babri Masjid case. During the hearing, a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar told BJP leader Subramanian Swamy that the court was made to believe that he was a party to the ongoing litigation.
This had led to the Chief Justice of India offering to mediate between the parties to the litigation, the court said. “You did not tell us that you were not a party to the case, we only got to know that from the press,” the bench said. Swamy, however, said that he had made it clear that he was on the issue of his Fundamental Right to worship.
“My Right to Pray is affected by the pending case and I had filed an intervening application,” Swamy said.The bench then said that it was not going to fast track the matter.Earlier on March 21 the apex court had suggested an out-of-court settlement to the lingering Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya, observing that issues of “religion and sentiments” can be best resolved through talks.