The Supreme Court is likely to commence the final hearing in the long-standing Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title disputefrom 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 inthe 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.
WILL THERE BE AN EARLY VERDICT FROM THE SC?
No. the problem is neither mythological nor legal. The litigation has records dating back to the 16th century and written in several languages, including Arabic and Persian. They all have to be translated into English for the court. The HC judgment itself runs to 8,000 pages.
WHAT WAS THE HC RULING? WHO ARE PARTIES TO THE DISPUTE?
The Allahabad HC ruled that the 2.77 acres of Ayodhya land be divided into three parts, with 1/3 going to Ram lalla represented by Hindu Mahasabha, 1/3 going to Sunni Waqf Board and the remaining 1/3 going to a Hindu religious denomination Nirmohi Akara.
While the 3-judge bench was not unanimous that the disputed structure was constructed after demolition of a temple, it did agree that a temple or a temple structure predated the mosque at the same site. The other parties in the case are Shia Waqf Board and UP government.
WHAT DID THE HC JUDGES SAY?
Justices Sudhir Agarwal and DV Sharma concluded that Lord Ram was born within the 1,482.5 square yards of the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid premises over 9 lakh years ago during the Treta Yuga.
Justice S.U. Khan, said his finding was an “informed guess” based on “oral evidences of several Hindus and some Muslims” that the precise birthplace of Ram is under the central dome.
Appeals question the HC’s decision to order the partition of the disputed site equally among Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla, on the hope that a decree for partition and separate possession of the land would prevent further litigation in the Ayodhya dispute.(MailToday)