Allahabad High Court’ three-judge special bench comprising Justice S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma have delivered the 8000 pages verdict of Ayodhya Case. The disputed land has be to divided into three parts and to be distributed among the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the party for ‘Ram Lalla’. One-third part of the disputed land should be given to the Sunni Waqf Board, one-third to the Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the party for ‘Ram Lalla’. According to senior advocate and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, the high court had ruled that the place where the idol of Ram was kept was the birthplace of the deity and the idols should not removed.
Also the high court had asked for a status quo for three months and in that time the litigants had to decide how to split the party. The Babri Masjid committe said it was disappointed with the verdict and would move to the Supreme Court.
Ayodhya dispute, the 61 years old dispute, is the dispute over a piece of land which the Hindus claim as theirs on account of being the birth place of Lord Rama, however the Muslims claim this place on account of the Babri Masjid being once located at the site. Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has asked the citizens to maintain peace and harmony after the Ayodhya verdict. Home Minister, P. Chidambaram has asked state governments to enforce strict security measures in sensitive areas.
The Registrar of the Lucknow bench has issued a statement in which the High court has requested the media not to speculate anything about the judgement until they receive a copy of the issues answered by the court and the operational part of the order.
Important Questions likely to be answered by this judgement.
- Whether the demolished structure was a mosque as claimed by the plaintiff Muslim organisations;
- If so, when was it built and by whom — Mughal emperor Babar or his Awadh governor Mir Baqi Tashqandi;
- Was it built on the site of a demolished Hindu temple?
- Whether Muslims prayed in the Babri mosque from time immemorial;
- Whether they possessed the property openly and continuously from 1528 when it was allegedly built;
- Whether they possessed it till 1949 when they were dispossessed;
- Whether the suit was filed too late;
- Whether the Hindus have earned the right to pray at the site through adverse and continuous possession;
- Whether the plot is Ram’s birthplace;
- Whether Hindus have worshipped the site as Ram’s birthplace from time immemorial;
- Whether the idols and other objects of worship were placed in the structure on the night of December 22-23, 1949, or whether they had been there before.
- Whether the Ram chabutra — the raised platform adjacent to the disputed structure — as well as the Bhandar and Sita Rasoi were demolished along with the main structure;
- Whether the land adjoining the structure on its east, north and south housed an ancient graveyard and a mosque;
- Whether the structure is ‘landlocked’ and cannot be reached except by passing through Hindus’ places of worship around it;
- Whether no mosque can come into existence on the plot in view of Islamic tenets (because idols have been placed there);
- Whether the structure could not legally be a mosque since it did not have minarets;
- Whether it could not be a mosque as it is hemmed in by a graveyard from three sides;
- Whether, after the demolition, it can still be called a mosque;
- Whether Muslims can use the open ground at the site as a mosque to offer prayers following the demolition of the structure;
- Whether and what relief, if any, the plaintiffs (Muslim organisations) are entitled to.
Ram Janambhumi — Babri Masjid Issue Timeline
| 1528 | The Babri Mosque was built in Ayodhya in 1528. Hindu groups claim it was built after demolishing a temple. |
| 1853 | The first recorded communal clashes over the site date back to this year. |
| 1859 | The colonial British administration put a fence around the site, denominating separate areas of worship for Hindus and Muslims. And that is the way it stood for about 90 years. |
| 1949 | In December of that year, idols were put inside the mosque. Both sides to the dispute filed civil suits. The government locked the gates, saying the matter was sub-judice and declared the area “disputed”. |
| 1984 | The movement to build a temple at the site, which Hindus claimed was the birthplace of Lord Ram, gathered momentum when Hindu groups formed a committee to spearhead the construction of a temple at the Ramjanmabhoomi site. |
| 1986 | A district judge ordered the gates of the mosque to be opened after almost five decades and allowed Hindus to worship inside the “disputed structure.” A Babri Mosque Action Committee was formed as Muslims protested the move to allow Hindu prayers at the site. |
| 1989 | The clamour for building a Ram temple was growing. Fronted by organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, foundations of a temple were laid on land adjacent to the “disputed structure.” |
| 1990 | The then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani took out a cross-country rathyatra to garner support for the move to build a Ram temple at the site. VHP volunteers partially damaged the Babri Mosque. Prime Minister Chandrashekhar intervened and tried to negotiate with the various groups. But talks failed. |
| 1991 | Riding high on the success of Advani’s rathyatra, the BJP became India’s primary opposition party in Parliament and came to power in Uttar Pradesh. |
| 1991 | The movement for building a temple gathered further momentum with Karsevaks or Hindu volunteers pouring into Ayodhya. Bricks were sent from across India. |
| 1992 | The Babri Mosque was demolished by Karsevaks. Communal riots across India followed. |
| 1992 | Ten days after the demolition, the Congress government at the Centre, headed by PV Narasimha Rao, set up a commission of inquiry under Justice Liberhan. |
| 1993 | Three months after being constituted, the Liberhan Commission began investigations into who and what led to the demolition of the Babri Mosque. |
| 2001 | Tensions rose on the anniversary of the demolition of the mosque as the VHP reaffirmed its resolve to build a temple at the site. |
| 2002 | At least 58 people were killed in Godhra, Gujarat, in an attack on a train believed to be carrying Hindu volunteers from Ayodhya. Riots followed in the state and over 1000 people were reported to have died in these. |
| 2003 | The court ordered a survey to find out whether a temple to Lord Ram existed on the site. In August, the survey presented evidence of a temple under the mosque. Muslim groups disputed the findings. |
| 2003 | A court ruled that seven Hindu leaders, including some prominent BJP leaders, should stand trial for inciting the destruction of the Babri Mosque. |
| 2004 | An Uttar Pradesh court ruled that an earlier order which exonerated LK Advani for his role in the destruction of the mosque should be reviewed. |
| 2007 | The Supreme Court refused to admit a review petition on the Ayodhya dispute. |
| 2009 | The Liberhan Commission, which was instituted ten days after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992, submitted its report on June 30 – almost 17 years after it began its inquiry. Its contents were not made public. |
| 2010 | The Allahabad High Court to pronounce its verdict on four title suits relating to the Ayodhya dispute on September 30, 2010 |
Latest Update :: 3:27 PM Proceedings begin in Ayodhya Case — Justice S U Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice D V Sharma have started the proceedings to pronounce the judgement in the Ayodhya Case. The litigants have reached Court No. 21 of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court.
Latest Update :: 4:17 PM The three-judge special bench of the Allahabad high court, comprising Justice S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma have delivered the 8000 pages verdict in the Ayodhya Case.
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