Senior lawyer Rajeev Dhawan, who represented Muslim side, sacked from Ayodhya case

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New Delhi: Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, who appeared for Sunni Waqf Board and other Muslim parties in Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute, has been 'sacked' from the case by advocate-on-record Ejaz Maqbool who was representing Jamiat. 

"Just been sacked from the Babri case by AOR Ejaz Maqbool who was representing the Jamiat. Have sent a formal letter accepting the 'sacking' without demur. No longer involved in the review or the case," Dhawan wrote in a post on Facebook. 

"I have been informed that Mr Madani has indicated that I was removed from the case because I was unwell. This is total nonsense. He has a right to instruct his lawyer AOR Ejaz Maqbool to sack me which he did on instructions. But the reason being floated is malicious and untrue," he further added.

Advocate Ejaz Maqbool, who represented Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in the Babri case, told ANI today, "Issue is that my client (Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind) wanted to file the review petition yesterday. It was to be settled by Mr Rajeev Dhawan. I could not give his name in the petition because he was not available. It is not a big issue."

Dhavan had vehemently argued the case for the Muslim side before a five-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. He had argued for more than two weeks in the 40 day hearing of the matter.

Dhavan was recently in headlines for a controversial statement he reportedly gave that "Muslims have never disturbed the peace and that only Hindus disturbed the environment." However, the senior advocate later clarified that the word Hindu in this context refers to a section of 'Sangh Parivar' which is dedicated to violence, lynching, destroying mosques and killing people, and not Hindus in general.

"This is television mischief. When I speak of Hindus, I am not speaking of Hindus generally. When the word Hindu is used in its context, it means the 'Sangh Parivar' in relation to Babri Masjid. I am speaking of those sections of Sangh Parivar, who are dedicated to violence and lynching, destroying mosques and killing people," said Dhavan. Dhavan claimed that he said that the people who destroyed Babri Masjid were 'Hindu Taliban'.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind filed a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging the apex court's November 9 verdict, wherein it awarded the disputed plot in Ayodhya to the Hindu side, thus clearing the way for the construction of a Ram temple. "The review petitioner is conscious of the sensitive nature of the issue and understands the need to put a quietus to the issue in dispute so as to maintain peace and harmony, however, there can be no peace without justice," the petition, filed by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind`s President, Maulana Syed Ashhad Rashidi, stated.

The petition sought a stay on the operation of apex court`s judgment and also on order passed by Allahabad High Court in 2010 in this regard. The petitioner stated that though the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Board of Waqfs - the original plaintiff - is not preferring a review petition, the suit was filed in a representative capacity for the entire Muslim community.