The Supreme Court may well have opened the floodgates after its verdict on Babri Masjid in which a sitting judge recently disclosed to have asked the “deity” itself to show him the way in judging the case assuming the Constitution, Land Law, Law of Evidence and other books of laws did not help him in the matter.
The decision has only encouraged one side to go further in digging up other sites of worship to somehow find relics to suit their ulterior motives.
Opinion writers have analysed that the Sambhal Shahi Masjid controversy is a cleverly engineered conspiracy to keep the Hindu-Muslim pot simmering. The way the petition was filed, and the speed with which the survey was ordered all raised questions about the sanctity of due process.
A section of people in India who want India to return to those ancient times though the Constitution and the laws that define this country now insist that we as a country is founded on the principles of rule of law. They would defy every symbol of civilisation and sensibility in their quest for power.
The death of four persons who were protesting against a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh is the result of the attempts by the very same people who refuse to believe that India is a constitutional democracy, and not a theocracy. They would go in search of the signs of their faith under structures. They would find pliant courts willing to play ball under one pretext or the other, though the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, mandates that the religious character of a place of worship existing on the 15th day of August, 1947, shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day and that it, and that and no suit, appeal or other proceeding with respect to any such matter shall lie on or after such commencement in any court, tribunal or other authority.
It is the job of the state to ensure that the rule of the law prevailed; minorities must be safe in Bangladesh and in India too; it’s the responsibility of the judiciary that the rules of the game are not changed midway. It’s a choice we as a people to make whether to move forward or return to the ancient.