Famous Five of Supreme Court of India.

 Famous Five of Supreme Court of India. These five judges paved the way for curing the wound that had been caused by the removal of  a festering sore from the body of Bharat_desh. For many centuries Hindus in India had to suffer a masjid built on the spot where it was said stood a temple to Ram_lalla, the infant form of Ram. This was in the capital city of Awadh, the ancient seat of Raja Ram, whose story was one of the key stories of Indic civilisation.  In the centuries that followed, the destruction of the Ram Lalla temple and the construction of the Babri Masjid, the town of Ayodhya witnessed the construction of over 150 mosques. No Hindu ever had a problem with any of those. But, this one mosque, the Babri Masjid, neither of much architectural value, nor of any spiritual significance, stood out as a symbol of conquest of the people by a victorious Islam. 

Once Muslims lost power in India with the arrival of the British, Hindus demanded that they be allowed to do pooja at the spot where Sri Ram was born. That was challenged in court. The courts, depending as they did strictly on written evidence, would not give any credence to civilisational memories. Finally, in 1992, Hindus who had come from all over the country, simply pulled down the structure which had come to symbolise the enslavement of Hindus by Islamists. 

However, the authorities of the modern Indian state refused to allow the construction of a temple at the spot. For over two decades the spot was guarded by armed police and no worshipper was allowed to remain at a spot for more than a few minutes. In the meantime many Islamists joined hands to oppose the construction of a temple. Even while they acknowledged the bloody history associated with the construction of the mosque that was now no more, they showed no remorse, opposed in every fora any effort at compromise. Finally, a five judge bench was constituted by the Supreme Court of India. It comprised judges from every religion of India, these were also five of the serniormost judges of India. They took the decision which enabled the construction of a grand temple to Ram Lalla. After they had passed judgement, the five got together for an evening of bonhomie where they posed for this iconic picture symbolising unity. The five judge bench was headed by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi (centre). Others included justices from (left to right) Ashok Bhushan, Sharad Bobde,  D Y Chandrachud, Syed Abdul Nazir.

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“Be not Afraid of anything. You will do Marvelous work. It is Fearlessness that brings Heaven even in a moment.”

Swamy Vivekananda