SC verdict feels like festival for us, say kin of kar sevaks killed during Ram Janmabhoomi movement

Kothari brothers, Ram and Sharad, were killed in police firing during Karseva at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1990.
Ram Kothari (L) and Sharad Kothari were killed in police firing at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1990 (Photo| Twitter/ @PratapMohanty1)
Ram Kothari (L) and Sharad Kothari were killed in police firing at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1990 (Photo| Twitter/ @PratapMohanty1)

KOLKATA: Family members of city kar sevaks who died in police firing at the Ram Janmabhoomi site 29 years ago hailed the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case and said the judgement is like Diwali and Holi for them.

Ram Kothari (22) and Sharad Kothari (20) were killed in police firing during Karseva at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1990. "Our entire family is very happy. We waited for 29 long years for justice. My brothers who died fighting for Ram Mandir would now rest in peace. It's like a second Diwali and Holi for all of us," Poornima, elder sister of the Kothari brothers, said on Saturday.

The Kothari brothers regularly visited the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) shakha near their residence at Burrabazar in central Kolkata. They went to Ayodhya responding to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's call for Kar seva, Poornima told PTI.

Several people including the Kothari brothers were killed in police firing there at that time. "Whenever the construction of Ram Mandir begins at the holy site, we will visit Ayodhya to pay homage to our brothers and all those Kar sevaks who lost their lives, she said.

The Supreme Court on Saturday cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.

In one of the most important and most anticipated judgements in India's history, a 5-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi put an end to the more than a century-old dispute that has torn the social fabric of the nation.

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