New Delhi: The ASI report of 2003 on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site was not an “ordinary opinion” as the archaeologists were acting on behalf of the Allahabad High Court judges to give their views on the excavated material, the Supreme Court said Friday.
A 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said the inferences from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) report were drawn by “cultivated and studied minds”.
The apex court’s observation came when senior lawyer Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the Muslim parties, told the apex court that the ASI report was “merely an opinion” of archeologists which needed to be supported by substantial proof to establish that a Ram temple already existed at the disputed site at Ayodhya. Arora told the bench that the report cannot be held to be a “substantive proof”.
“The 2003 ASI report is a weak evidence and needs corroboration with the substantive evidence,” the senior lawyer told the bench which also comprised Justices S A Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer. She said the report was not binding on the court as it was only “advisory” in nature. “This (ASI report) is just an opinion and no definitive conclusion can be drawn from it,” she said. (PTI)
