Supreme Court dismisses all review petitions in Ayodhya verdict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 12) dismissed all 18 review petitions challenging the verdict in Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case. The five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, SA Nazeer, and Sanjeev Khanna heard the petitions today. 

Justice Khanna is the only judge who was not a part of the five-judge Constitution bench that had delivered the Ayodhya verdict on November 9. Khanna has replaced the former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

Earlier, speculations were that if the apex court decides to go for an open court hearing, then it will hear the arguments of all parties heard again.

Notably, 18 petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging its historic decision and on Monday (December 10) a group of 40 social workers also filed the review plea challenging the SC verdict in the Ayodhya case. Among the social workers are Harsh Mander, Nandini Sundar, and Pravat Pattnaik.

On November 9, the SC had delivered its verdict in Ayodhya case directing that the disputed 2.27 acres of the land in the holy town in favour of the temple, while ruling that 5-acres of land should be given to Sunni Waqf Board an alternative site for building a mosque.