In dramatic day with few house left for the ending of arguments of the contentious Ayodha Land dispute, senior Advocate Dr Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the Sunni Wakf Board, one of the Muslim parties in the Ayodhya case, caused a stir when he apparently tore up papers and maps handed over to him by the counsel of the All India Hindu Mahasabha.
Dhavan was objecting to the All India Hindu Mahasabha’s counsel trying to place the publication by K Kishore before the five-judge bench Constitution bench headed by Justice Gogoi was hearing appeals challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict, which ordered equal division of the 2.77-acre of disputed land in Ayodhya among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
On the incident of tearing of the pages in Court in the morning session, Dhavan said the incident is going viral, but says in fact he wanted to throw the pages away and the CJI said he may tear them. He said he therefore tore the pages and it was done with the permission of the Court.
CJI Gogoi agreed with Dhavan and clarifies in the Court that he indeed said Dhavan may tear the pages.