Indian Court Orders Division of Disputed Holy Site
Kurt Achin | New Delhi 30 September 2010
A high court in India on Thursday handed down a long-awaited ruling on the status of hotly disputed holy site in Ayodhya city, a symbolic flashpoint in the country's tensions between Hindus and Muslims. Lawyers emerging from the courtroom say the court ordered Hindus to administer about two thirds of the religious property, and Muslims will receive one third.
The site was home to an Islamic mosque for hundreds of years before an angry Hindu mob destroyed it in 1992. That sparked violence around the country that killed more than 2,000 people.
Hindu groups argue the mosque was wrongly built on the site of a former temple marking the birthplace of the warrior god Rama, one of Hinduism's most revered deities.
India's government has called for calm and stepped up security, fearing a verdict in any direction could reignite historical tensions and violence.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a lawyer for Hindu litigants, says Hindus should view the verdict positively.
"I would appeal to them in all humility, please accept this verdict," said Prasad.
Parties from both sides of the dispute say they will appeal the decision to the Indian Supreme Court. That is expected to further delay the Ayodhya case, which has been in the court system for 60 years.
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