Hindu outfit wants action against lawyer for Muslim parties for tearing up Ayodhya map in SC
New Delhi, Oct 17: A Hindu party on Thursday sought action from the Bar Council against senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing Muslim litigants in the Ayodhya case, for his "highly unethical act" of tearing the pictorial map purportedly showing the birthplace of Lord Ram during the Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday.
One of the factions of the All India Hindu Mahasabha (AIHM) wrote to the Bar Council of India condemning Dhavan's action on the concluding day of the 40-day hearing in the Ram-Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case before a 5-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
Dhavan had created a flutter in the packed courtroom on Wednesday when he tore the pictorial map provided by senior lawyer Vikas Singh, representing AIHM.
"Rajeev Dhavan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India has committed highly unethical act by tearing into pieces a copy of the map submitted before the Supreme Court... This act of Dhavan scandals and brings disrepute to the Supreme Court Bar.
"It is therefore, requested to take cognisance and take appropriate action against the senior advocate in accordance with law," Pramod Pandit Joshi, national spokesperson of AIHM said in a statement.
The apex court Wednesday wrapped up the marathon hearings in the politically sensitive case and reserved its verdict.
Ayodhya case: Exercise restraint during coverage television channels told
Dhavan,
representing
Sunni
Wakf
Board
and
other
Muslim
parties,
had
taken
strong
objection
to
Singh
relying
on
the
site
map
and
books
written
by
foreign
and
Indian
authors
to
buttress
claims
that
the
central
dome
of
the
now
demolished
structure
was
the
birthplace
of
deity
'Ram
Lalla'.
Dhavan
had
said
such
documents
(maps)
cannot
be
relied
upon
in
the
matter
now
as
the
issue
of
location
of
'janmsthan' was
discussed
by
the
Allahabad
High
Court
on
other
documents.
When
he
vigorously
raised
objections
to
the
reliance
on
the
pictorial
map,
which
is
also
part
of
the
book
'Ayodhya
Revisited'
by
former
Bihar
cadre
IPS
officer
Kishore
Kunal,
Singh
had
said
he
will
not
press
the
pictorial
map
to
be
taken
on
record.
Dhavan
had
then
asked
the
Constitution
bench
as
to
what
he
should
do
with
the
map.
The bench had said that he can shred the documents into pieces.
Dhavan
then
tore
the
pictorial
map,
provided
by
the
AIHM
counsel,
in
the
courtroom
to
the
utter
shock
of
the
lawyers
and
visitors
in
the
packed
courtroom.
The
drama
did
not
end
there
and
during
the
hearing
in
the
post
lunch
session,
Dhavan
again
referred
to
the
pre-lunch
incident
of
his
tearing
off
the
papers
and
said
that
"outside
the
court,
it
has
become
viral".
"The
news
that
has
become
viral
is
that
I
on
my
own
tore
the
papers," he
said.
Dhavan
said
he
had
asked
and
sought
the
permission
of
the
bench
whether
those
papers
can
be
thrown
and
the
reply
from
the
CJI
was
"if
it
is
irrelevant,
you
can
tear
it".
"The CJI said I could shred the papers and I just followed the order. I take advice of Mr (Arvind) Datar in such matters and he told me it was a mandamus (a kind of writ or direction)," Dhavan had said.
The CJI had shot back saying, "Dr Dhavan is right that the chief justice said, so he tore up. Let this clarification also be widely reported."
The CJI was joined by another member of the bench, Justice S A Nazeer, who had said: "It is widely reported now".
When Singh was advancing arguments, the repeated interruptions irked the bench and that had led the CJI to observe: "For us the argument is well over".