Muslim side denies judge’s 1886 observation favours Hindus

New Delhi: The Muslim side, on the last day of hearings in the Ayodhya title dispute on Wednesday, refuted the Hindu side’s claim that the observation of a District Judge in 1886 was in their favour.
Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Muslim side, contended before the five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, that counsel of the Hindu side wrongly relied on the decision of the District Judge on March 18, 1886, to indicate the title was not denied by the judge by “making an observation it was too late to go into the issue”.
Dhavan submitted the fact remains that the Commissioner on November 1, 1886, specifically decided the Hindus had no title and that they only had a prescriptive title.
The Hindu side had said the Muslim parties chose not to file an appeal against these findings, which has attained finality.
“Therefore, burden of proof does not lie on the Hindu parties to show that they held the disputed property to be sacred. It is the duty of the Muslim parties to displace the said findings while dealing with facts nearer to their ken,” they had argued.
To this, Dhavan said if a finding is in Muslims’ favour, then an appeal does not need to be filed.