Reading the Ayodhya verdict in its entirety shows SC was moved by desire for a pragmatic and equitable solution | The Indian Express

Reading the Ayodhya verdict in its entirety shows SC was moved by desire for a pragmatic and equitable solution | The Indian Express

Written by Dr Ashwani Kumar |Updated: November 25, 2019 9:59:56 am

The writer, a former union law minister, is a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. Views expressed are his own

Reading the Ayodhya verdict in its entirety shows SC was moved by desire for a pragmatic and equitable solution

Most judicial pronouncements are subject to interrogation and the Ayodhya verdict involving “complexities of human history and activity” is no exception. Even so, when read in entirety, the Court’s decision — based on a “preponderance of evidence” — does answer the doubts raised by its critics.

The hopefully final closure to a prolonged and divisive dispute has been seen by some as a temporary breather rather than an enduring solution.

A nation fatigued by escalating communal polarisation, heightened religious sensitivities and debilitating politics must have heaved a sigh of relief when the Ayodhya verdict was pronounced. Considered by the Court as “an adjudicatory task of unique dimension… traversing the realm of history , archaeology and the law,” the decision has generally been acclaimed as a fair balancing of competing claims to justice.