A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in a majority opinion of 2:1 on September 27, 2018, declined to refer the question whether a “mosque as a place of prayer is an essential part of Islam” in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid appeals to a larger Bench.
The majority view by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justice Ashok Bhushan ordered that the hearing in the main Ayodhya title suit appeals should resume from October 29.
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, in a stinging dissent, observed that the question of what is essential and what is not in a religion cannot be hastily decided as is being done by the majority on the Bench now.
Here is the full text of the judgment.
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