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Indian court pronounces verdict on Babri Mosque case

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Sept 30, IRNA -- An Indian court on Thursday pronounced verdict on the internationally acclaimed Babri Mosque lawsuit.

The special bench of the Allahabad High Court, hearing the country’s longest running legal dispute on Babri Masjid-Ram (a hindu diety) birth place, in Ayodhya city of the Uttar Pradesh state, Thursday ruled by majority that the dispute land be divided into three parts.

The disputed land will be divided among the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the party for Ram.

The special bench of Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, the senior-most judge on the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Sibghat Ullah Khan gave control of the main disputed section of the site, where a mosque was torn down in 1992, to Hindus.

Other parts of the site will be controlled by Muslims and another Hindu sect, Nirmohi Akhara.

The majority in the three-judge, Lucknow bench also ruled that status quo should be maintained at the disputed place for three months.

Meanwhile, the main Muslim group “Sunni Waqf Board” contesting the religious site said it was 'partly disappointed' by the verdict and will move the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court order dividing the disputed land in Ayodhya among three parties and said they were not going to surrender it.

'We will appeal against the division of disputed land among three parties,' Board lawyer Zafaryab Jilani told reporters in Lucknow.

Appealing to maintain peace and harmony in the wake of Ayodhya verdict, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday cautioned people against 'disruptive elements' spreading rumours to create ill-will between communities.

'You should be particularly careful with regard to rumours that disruptive elements could propagate to create ill-will between communities,' Singh said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security followed by a Congress Core Group meet headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the government remained fully committed to upholding the rule of law and maintaining peace, order and harmony.

Earlier, Muslim leaders and religious scholars across the country, in advance of the ruling of the Allahabad High Court’s verdict on Babri Masjid, had appealed to the community to maintain peace and communal harmony.

Meanwhile, authorities had made enormous security arrangements across the country in advance of the ruling.

The Ayodhya dispute has been an emotive issue for decades and mired in a slew of legal suits involving Hindu and Muslim religious groups.

The first title suit in the case was filed in 1950 by one Gopal Singh Visharad, seeking an injunction for permitting 'pooja'(worship) of Lord Ram at the disputed site while the second suit was filed by Paramhans Ramchandra Das also in 1950 seeking the same injunction but this was later withdrawn.

The third suit was filed in 1959 by the Nirmohi Akhara, seeking direction to hand over the charge of the disputed site from the receiver and the fourth one came in 1961 by UP Sunni Central Board of Waqfs for declaration and possession of the site.

The fifth suit was moved on July one, 1989 in the name of Bhagwan Shri Ram Lalla Virajman also for declaration and possession.

Through an application moved by then Advocate General of UP, all the four suits were transferred to the High Court in 1989.

As many as 94 witnesses have appeared before the Court -- 58 from Hindu side and 36 from Muslim side -- during regular hearings of the case which began on January 10, 2010.

The High Court, while adjudicating the case, also asked the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out excavation in the area surrounding the disputed site to find out whether temple was there before mosque was built.

The excavation, which was done in the presence of representatives from Hindus and Muslims, went on for more than five months between March and August in 2003.

The history of the dispute goes back to the year 1528 when a mosque was built on the site by Mughal emperor Babar which Hindus claim to be a birth place of Lord Ram and where a temple was there earlier.