The Ayodhya verdict was unique in that the Supreme Court gave a self-contradictory message to the Muslims: ‘the land belongs to you but it does not belong to you.’ Many pieces of evidence were clearly placed showing that the Babri Masjid was in the possession of Muslims between 1857 and 1949. The court itself accepted that the placement of idols in the masjid in 1949 and its demolition in 1992 were both illegal, but the verdict gave an impression of rewarding the perpetrators of the acts, instead of punishing them. Faith must also have some grounding in reason. On this occasion, the faith of one party was given a legal status against the faith of the other, which had placed incontrovertible proof (Front page, “Muslim law board to file review plea against Ayodhya verdict,” Nov. 18). We only hope that the review petition results in a correction of the discrepancies by the court.
K. Malikul Azeez,
Chennai
