Former Supreme Court judge Justice RF Nariman, speaking at the first Justice AM Ahmadi Memorial Lecture on “Secularism and the Indian Constitution,” criticised the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Babri Masjid dispute, stating that it undermined secularism. Justice Nariman emphasised that the judgment, which allowed the construction of Ram Mandir at the site of the demolished mosque, was not supported by evidence of a temple existing beneath the mosque.
Justice Nariman expressed that the series of judgments delivered over the years in the Babri Masjid dispute failed to uphold the principle of secularism. He specifically pointed to the 2019 verdict, calling it “a great travesty of justice” for prioritising religious sentiment over secular values. “In my opinion, secularism was not given its due in these judgments,” he remarked, reports Live Law.
