The recent Ayodhya dispute hearing in the Supreme Court was a charged affair with clashes between the lawyers and the justices. The bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer, at one time in fact asked a lawyer speaking out of turn to “go stand in the corner”.
Political Climate Not Right
The three senior advocates appearing for the appellants of the minority community – Kapil Sibal, Dushyant Dave and Rajeev Dhawan – argued that the current political climate of the country was not conducive for hearing the case and asked the bench to defer the hearing.
Articulating their objections, Sibal alleged that the court was sending a “wrong message” by hearing the appeal right now on the basis of an oral plea by a third party namely BJP leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy.
The lawyers further stated that they had not been given necessary time to prepare for such a complex case. Sibal suggested that the hearing be deferred to after July 2019.
The justices however rejected their plea, and allowed senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing for the deity Ram Lalla, to begin opening statements.
This led to a protest by trio of lawyers by way of making a request for walking out .
Chief Justice Misra subsequently while dictating the order referred to the “utter shock and surprise” of the court when the three senior lawyers asked permission to leave the court. Sibal objected to this inclusion and asked the court to not “queer the pitch”. He added that the lawyers had only asked for a fair hearing.
In the final order the Bench noted that the trio had sought permission to leave which was denied by the court.
Congress Dissociates From Sibal’s Statements
The Congress has distanced itself from Kapil Sibal who is a senior leader of the party.
Communication chief Randeep Surjewala noted that the party doesn’t interferes in decisions taken by lawyers with respect to the brief they take or its handling.
The party’s position on the Ayodhya issue is that the Supreme Court must decide on the matter and it should be acceptable to all concerned.
