Ayodhya Case on September 24th Declared


The much-awaited judgment on Friday to decide the title suit on ownership of the land on which the Babri Mosque stood in Ayodhya until its demolition on December 6, 1992 involves 28 issues framed by the special Lucknow

bench of the Allahabad high court.

The court may not rule on each of these issues, but it seems to have left no avenue unexplored, even directing excavation of the site to unearth evidence.

There are actually five title suits before the court that it has to decide on even though its ruling will also dispose of dozens of other petitions for access, right to worship or pray, write petitions and the like.

It is to be seen whether the court can settle issues that are historical or mythological, as back in 1994, the Supreme Court had refused to go into these very aspects while returning a Presidential reference on the matter.

The first suit goes back to 1885 when Mahant Raghubar Das filed a title suit in a Faizabad court to build a chabutra (raised platform) on the outer courtyard of the disputes structure, but his suit was dismissed on the ground that the event (alleged demolition of an original Ram temple in 1528) had occurred over 350 years earlier, and so it was 'too late now' to remedy the grievance.

It was revived in December 1949 when some people broke open the structure's locks and installed a Ram idol and articles of worship and the administration ordered the status quo that led to two separate civil suits filed on January 16, 1950 by Hindu Mahasabha member late Gopal Singh Visharad and Paramhansa Ramchandra Das, keeper of the Digambar Akhada in Ayodhya.

Friday's judgment will not be a final verdict on the dispute that has been raging for decades as to whether there was the Ram mandir at the site that was pulled down to build the mosque, as it can be appealed in the Supreme Court by either side.

Even the Supreme Court ruling can be challenged for a review by the same bench or by a 5-judge bench through a curative petition.

All the same, the issues that the judges framed for ruling try to cover every possible aspect under the legal system.

These include:
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.

Recent Articles