The Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel headed by former SC judge FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, whose members spent over six months in an attempt to arrive at an out-of-court, amicable settlement in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case, found just six passing references in the verdict delivered on Saturday. Temple in Ayodhya: Short history of an old Sangh Parivar demand “In bringing together the disputants on a common platform for a free and frank dialogue, the mediators have performed a function which needs to be commended. We also express our appreciation of the parties who earnestly made an effort to pursue the mediation proceedings,” the court said. Apart from Justice Kalifulla, Art of Living Foundation founder Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and mediation expert Sriram Panchu were part of the panel. The court had restrained the media from reporting on the mediation process. Read | Faith establishes birth place: A post script, unsigned In March 2017, then Chief justice J S Khehar had also said that the Ramjanmabhoomi issue “was a sensitive issue that involved faith and must be sorted out through talks”. Justice Khehar had also offered to be the mediator. The mediation proceedings began on March 8 and the final arguments in the case began on August 2, when no settlement was reached. As the hearings were about to conclude, the panel submitted a second report that some of the parties desired to settle the dispute. READ | Why Hindus won claim over both the outer and inner courtyard at disputed site The second settlement report was signed by Mr Zufar Ahmad Faruqi, Chairman of the Sunni Central Waqf Board. The Indian Express had reported that the settlement had four components, including an agreement between all parties to freezing the status of all places of worship, and to make a formal request to the Supreme Court to push for a freeze on all such matters on which there may be some litigation in courts.
