The former CJI was criticised for being part of a special bench set up to hear a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Matter of Great Public Importance Touching upon the Independence of the Judiciary' on a Saturday on April 20, 2019.
Justice Bobde, who decided several key cases during his tenure including the historic Ayodhya verdict, was administered oath as the 47th CJI in November 2019 and retired on Friday.
"Was this the place of birth of Lord Ram? Was the Babri mosque built after demolition of temple? And whether the mosque in question was built in accordance with the tenets of Islam?"
'The saffron party is under pressure from RSS and other Hindutva quarters to move swiftly on construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.'
Changing the names of Uttar Pradesh cities has accelerated into a movement ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, notes Ranjita Ganesan.
The seat-share progression should worry the BJP. From the previous assembly polls of 2017, through the assembly segments in its favour in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and now in 2022, the BJP's seat-share has come down from a high 312 to 275 to 255. N Sathiya Moorthy reads the political tea leaves after the UP and Punjab election verdicts.
Centre's counsel Lala Ram Gupta told the Liberhan Commission that there is no evidence to suggest a conspiracy.
The Supreme Court on Monday kept its options open on examining the dropping of conspiracy charge against accused like L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti in the demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri structure in Ayodhya in 1992.
He told the court that he had met Kodnani at Sola Civil Hospital that morning.
Owaisi said the CBI should appeal against the judgment "to protect its independence."
A Hindu body has moved the Supreme Court challenging a provision in the 1991 law that provides for maintaining the "religious character" of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947, in a bid to open the litigation route to reclaim disputed religious sites other than the Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya. The petition, which has challenged Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, assumes significance in the case of Kashi and Mathura, where two disputed mosques stand.
A case has been registered at the Kotwali police station on a complaint filed by the Trust's secretary and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Champat Rai, a senior police official said.
It cannot be that only in this case the CBI has developed a spine, refusing to heed the advice of its political masters.' 'There is something that does not meet the eye here,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
The second part of our series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministers with a criminal record.
Modi said the way each section of the society welcomed the verdict reflects India's ancient traditions of amity and harmony.
Lalu, who is in his late 70s and suffers from multiple ailments, had been awarded sentences by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court in fodder scam cases.
Three prisoners, including a member of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari's gang, were shot dead inside the Chitrakoot district jail on Friday after which the Uttar Pradesh government suspended two jail officials, police said.
He said going through the court was a loss for both Hindus and Muslims and an out-of-court settlement would be a 'win-win situation' for both the communities.
Applying balm on the wounds of the two religious groups is a better course of action for the rulers. Common sense dictates the verdict be accepted in good grace by all sides, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
'They were planning collection of arms dropped by drones and supply to active terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Kashmir valley; planting a vehicle-based IED in Jammu before 15th August and reconnaissance of important targets in other parts of the country'
According to him, the temple issue did 'more harm than good' to the BJP as the matter was being used by the opposition 'to terrorise minorities and polarise votes'.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
While charges against top Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders including Lal Krishna Advani, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar were already dropped by the high court, the most prominent among those who were on the firing line was former Faizabad district magistrate R N Srivastava and mafia don turned BJP member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Saran Singh
The three judges of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court will give separate judgments in the Ramjanma bhoomi-Babri Masjid case at 3.30 pm on Thursday. Lucknow District Magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar told reporters that three synopses of the judgment of the three judges will be given to the media immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict. It will also be put up on the website of the court on the internet, he said.
By all yardsticks 2024 isn't expected to be like 2014 or 2019. But with the mandir expected to be ready in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, Modi will have a new ally in Ram to see him through, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Aakar Patel looks forward to Prime Minister Modi's speech at the bhoomi pujan for the Ram temple in Ayodhya next week. It will be entertaining and stirring, predicts Aakar, and make lots of promises that he most likely won't be able to keep.
Five members of a school management near Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district have been booked.
Rajya Sabha sources said he will take oath at 11 am on Thursday. The former CJI was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind on March 16.
The commission had rejected the theory that it was a spontaneous act by karsevaks whereas the CBI court has ruled that there was no evidence that demolition was a conspiracy.
'The court can strengthen the verdict by ensuring that Muslims don't feel shortchanged or cheated.'
BJP leader Vinay Katiyar said like a Shiva temple, water drips from the ceiling in the Taj Mahal.
'His speech at the bhoomi puja will stand out for a long time in the memory of those who listened to it for touching the pinnacle of excellence and brilliance in both style and content,' declares B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'We would try our best that the temple structure becomes visible in the next two years.'
The Uttar Pradesh government has urged the Union Home ministry to provide 400 companies of central paramilitary forces in order to tackle the fallout of the much-awaited verdict in the Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit.
Once Ram temple is built it will become a 'ghoshit (declared) Hindu Rashtra', a VHP leader told the gathering.
The Congress-led grouping has some reasons to feel emboldened over recent political developments.
All 32 accused in the 28-year-old Babri demolition case, including BJP's founder-members LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, have been acquitted by a special CBI court in Lucknow.
BJP leader Vinay Katiyar alleged that the issue was being delayed 'under pressure' from the Congress, which denied the charge.
'We have done majoritarianism through other means.' 'The Citizenship Amendment Act, read together with the National Register of Citizens, will prove what I mean,' notes Aakar Patel.
'We are aggrieved about the ruling and there is no other way of putting it across to the Supreme Court and entire society that wrong has been committed and which requires correction.'
