Not here to see if Babur was a sinner, SC says in Ayodhya hearing

New Delhi, Sep 30: The Supreme Court on Monday said that it was not checking Babur was a sinner. We are here to see if Babur followed the law on secular use of property and also to see if he was subject to any law.

The observation was made by Justice Bobde, while hearing the Ayodhya case. To this advocate Nizam Pasha said that Babur was a sovereign and Quran was not the law at the time.

Pasha said hat it was futile to try and fix morality in the in conquests and wars and spoils of past centuries. Today we have moved so far from what a sovereign was in those days.

In conquests and wars, Muslims have not followed the tenets of Quran that one Muslim cannot kill another.

We cannot assume that the law was Sharia at the time of Babur and then say law was not followed by him and also say building the Babri Masjid from the spoils of war is wrong, Pasha further submitted.

Last week, Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, who is due to retire in November said that the arguments must be concluded by October 18. "Let us all make joint efforts to complete it by October 18. If the need arises, we are ready to sit on Saturdays and some extra hours on weekdays to complete it," the CJI said.

Further, the Bench said that even if the arguments are completed on October 18 it would be miraculous to take out a judgment in 4 weeks. The CJI retires on November 17 and if the verdict is not delivered before that, then the entire case would have to be reheard by a new Bench.

Further, the Bench fixed a time schedule for the completion of arguments for both the Hindu and Muslim parties. Most arguments should be completed by October 4 after which the Supreme Court has Dussehra holiday and will re-open on October 14. This could mean that the court would have another five days until October 18 to hear the arguments and complete it.