Ayodhya case: Lawyer for Muslim parties tears book showing Ram's birthplace

There was drama and rancour in the Supreme Court as the daily hearings into the Ayodhya dispute were nearing their end on Wednesday. Rajeev Dhavan, the advocate representing the Muslim parties, tore apart a map that purportedly showed that the birthplace of Lord Ram would have been located in the centre of the now-demolished Babri Masjid.

Dhavan got agitated when Vikas Singh, the counsel for the Hindu Mahasabha, sought to present a book to the five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the arguments. Singh sought to present Ayodhya Revisited, a book written by ex-IPS officer Kishore Kunal, which claimed to have evidence that correlated the location of the 'Janmasthan' of Lord Ram at the centre of the Babri Masjid. Singh requested that the Hindu Mahasabha wanted to cross-check the evidence on the location of the birthplace of Lord Ram.

As Singh sought to present the book as evidence, Dhavan raised objections and declared he would tear the document and began doing so. According to media reports, as Dhavan and Singh engaged in a heated argument, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi threatened to close the hearing and leave. NDTV reported that Gogoi told Dhavan he could “shred it further”, when he sought permission from the Supreme Court to tear the document.

Gogoi had declared he intended to read the book presented by Singh “after November”. Gogoi is due to retire on November 17 and it is expected a verdict in the Ayodhya dispute would be given before then.

Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi criticised Dhavan's conduct. In a tweet, Singhvi noted, “tearing papers given as evidence in the Supreme Court is not befitting of a lawyer. A lawyer's job is to put his best case forward and demonstrate presentation skills. This is unacceptable.”