Supreme Court set for final hearing over Ram temple

Supreme Court set for final hearing over Ram temple title dispute as 25th anniversary of demolition looms

  • In 1992 a large group of Hindus demolished the 16th century Babri Mosque 
  • The city is believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama 
  • The mosque was built during Mughal rule on top of the ‘birthplace’ of the deity During the resurgence of Hindu nationalism the VHP and BJP organised a rally 
  • The 150,000-strong crowd tore the mosque down in anger Rioting between Hindus and Muslims left at least 2,000 dead 
  • The current Ayodhya dispute is a political and socio-religious debate in India concerning which religious group ought to possess the land 
  • See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome 

The Supreme Court is likely to commence the final hearing in the long-standing Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute from Tuesday, a day before the 25th anniversary of the demolition of medieval-era structure. 

A specially constituted bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer will be hearing a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgement of the Allahabad High Court in four civil suits. 

The high court had then ruled a three-way division of the disputed 2.77-acre area at Ayodhya among the parties – the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Lord Ram Lalla. 

A sect of Muslims, under the banner of Shia Central Waqf Board of UP, had earlier approached the court offering a solution that a mosque could be built in a Muslim- dominated area at a reasonable distance from the disputed site in Ayodhya.

However, its intervention was opposed by the All India Sunni Waqf Board that had claimed that judicial adjudication between the two sects had already been done in 1946 by declaring the mosque, which was demolished on December 6, 1992, as one which belongs to the Sunnis. 

Recently a group of civil rights activists also moved the apex court seeking intervention in the Ayodhya dispute and urged it to consider the issue saying it is not just a dispute over property but has several other aspects which would have farreaching effects on the secular fabric of the country. 

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