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Agenda: Ayodhya Dispute of the Babri Masjid and the Ram Mandir

The dispute is about a plot of land measuring 2.77 acres in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, that
houses the Babri mosque and Ram Janmabhoomi. This particular piece of land is considered sacred
among Hindus as it is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, one of the most revered deities of the
religion. Muslims argue that the land houses the Babri mosque, where they had offered prayers for
years before the dispute. The dispute arises over whether the mosque was built on top of a Ram temple
– after demolishing or modifying it in the 16th century. Muslims, on the other hand, say that the
mosque is their sacred religious place - built by Mir Baqi in 1528 - and that Hindus desecrated it in 1949,
when some people placed idols of Lord Ram inside the mosque, under the cover of darkness. The
dispute over this piece of land has defined and then redefined state politics outfits and influenced the
mindsets of people throughout the country. Spanning across half a millennium, it predates empires –
Mughal and British – and now even threatens to disrupt the fabric of modern india. . The dispute
erupted and escalated into full blown violence in 1992, when around two lakh karsevaks (volunteers to a
religious cause) demolished the Babri mosque, inciting communal riots across the country. More than
1,000 people were killed in these riots. Twenty years have passed since the demolition of the Babri
mosque but it has left a lasting impact on the socio-political fabric of India. What prompted the Conflict?
In December, 1949, statues of Ram and Sita were placed inside the mosque. The idols were placed in
order to stake claim and convert the existing mosque into the Ram temple. Then then prime minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru, reached out to the then

Uttar Pradesh chief minister, GB Pant, asking him to address the issue and remove the idols as "a
dangerous example is being set there." But many Hindu nationalist leaders quickly dismissed Nehru’s
concerns and declined requests to remove the idols. Following this dispute, the gates of the mosque
were locked and remained shut for the next 40 years. In 1989, Nehru’s grandson Rajiv Gandhi, in an
attempt to appease voter-sentiment, ordered for the gates to be reopened. In retaliation, many of the
BJP's Hindutva brigade leaders, along with RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal workers, ran campaigns to rebuild
the Ram temple. The campaign wave escalated over the next three years until 6 December, 1992, when
LK Advani organised a rath yatra to Ayodhya, culminating in the demolition of the 400-year-old mosque.

The Conflict :
The Hindus regard the land in Ayodhya, on which the Babri Masjid was built in the year 1528, is the Ram
Janmabhoomi. It has been said that one of Babur’s generals, Mir Baqi demolished a temple of Lord Ram
in order to build the mosque, which was named after Babur himself (Babri Masjid). Meanwhile, both the
communities prayed at the site. But in the year 1885, the head of Nirmohi Akhara had filed a petition,
where he asked for permission to pray to Ram Lalla inside the Babri Masjid. The court did not grant the
permission, but in 1886, district Judge of Faizabad court Colonel FEA Chamier famously said that it was
an unfortunate event that a mosque was built in a sacred place for Hindus, yet with the passage of more
than three centuries, it was too late now. Similar petitions and judgements continued for a long time.
The way the dispute has been reduced to a mere law and order situation and assigned culpability to
particular sections of the society and the eventual treatment is a clear indication of a myopic mindset
which disregards the overarching historical political and religious avenues. It is essentially a very
simplistic approach and has been the bane of this controversy.

What did the Court say?


Just ten days after the incident, on 16 December, 1992, the government established the Liberhan
Commission of India to investigate the demolition of the Babri Mosque. The report found many BJP
leaders culpable including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Pramod
Mahajan, Uma Bharti and Vijayaraje Scindia, as well as VHP leaders like Giriraj Kishore and Ashok
Singhal. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court has asked for 'an amicable, out-of-court settlement' in the
dispute. A bench comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice
Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that they believed this 'to be a better course of action than insisting on a judicial
pronouncement.' Back in 2010, the Allahabad High Court had said that there should be a partition of the
Ayodhya land between the two parties. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had urged the apex court to
hear a batch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court order. The SC has asked Swamy to consult
the parties and mention the matter on or before 31 March. The Allahabad High Court's ruling had stated
that the 'disputed land was Ram's birthplace', that the 'mosque was built after the demolition of a
temple' and that 'it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam'. It had ruled that the disputed
land would be divided into three equal parts – one-third going to the Ram Lalla, for the construction of
the Ram temple; one-third going to the Islamic Sunni Waqf Board and the remaining to Nirmohi Akhara,
a Hindu religious denomination. The apex court had, however, suspended the ruling in 2011 after the
Hindu and Muslim groups had appealed against verdict.

Babri Masjid Case

What is the issue?

The Supreme Court observed that “prima facie” the order exonerating BJP leader L K Advani and others
in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case was not correct and that the CBI should have filed a
supplementary chargesheet against them. Background of Babri Masjid Dispute: The Ayodhya dispute is
centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, located in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh. The Ayodhya
debate centres around the land known today as Ram Janmabhoomi, on which the Babri Mosque was
built in 1528. In Hindu Scriptures and authentic text, Ayodhya is the birthplace of the Lord Rama, the son
of Dasharatha, the ruler of Ayodhya. In 1525, the Mughal king Babur invaded north India, and
conquered a substantial part of northern India. One of his generals, Mir Baqi came to Ayodhya in 1528
and after reportedly destroying a pre-existing temple of Rama at the site, built a mosque, which has
come to be called masjid-i-janmasthan (mosque at the birthplace) as well as Babri Masjid (Babur's
mosque). The Babri Mosque was destroyed during a political rally which turned into a riot on 6
December 1992.

What the bench says?

The bench observed that the CBI should have filed a supplementary chargesheet to substantiate the
allegations of criminal conspiracy against the leaders, who were let off on a technical ground that the
trial was sought to be conducted at a trial court in Lucknow without the concurrence of the High Court.
The bench then said that it might order for a joint trial of both the criminal cases in one court, preferably
at Lucknow. Who has gone to the Supreme Court? CBI has appealed against the Allahabad High Court’s
verdict of May 2010, in which the HC’s Lucknow Bench upheld a trial court order on dropping conspiracy
charges against Advani and others. In 2015, Haji Mehboob, a man in his late 70s, also filed an appeal.
Mehboob pleaded that with the BJP in power, CBI may not press for restoration of the conspiracy case
against top leaders of the party. Is this the only case pending in SC? No. There is another — over a batch
of appeals against a September 30, 2010 verdict delivered by the Allahabad HC in the title suit, directing
that the 2.77 acres of land of the disputed site should be divided three ways among the Hindus, the
Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara, an organised group of sadhus. In May 2011, the court ordered status
quo at the site, restoring its previous orders of 1994 and 2002 in respect of the 67 acres adjacent to the
disputed site in Ayodhya. In January 2013, Justice Aftab Alam reiterated the order to maintain status
quo on the title of the land. But Justice Alam retired in April 2013, and the case has not witnessed any
effective hearing even on the miscellaneous applications since then.

How many cases are on in the trial court?

Two — one each in Lucknow and Rae Bareli. It is these two cases that the apex court wants heard
jointly. Both the cases were investigated by the CBI. In Lucknow, the accused face charges of demolition;
those in Rae Bareli are being tried for allegedly instigating the crowd through speeches. Conspiracy
charges against Advani and the others were dropped by the Lucknow court on the technical ground that
the CBI had sought to conduct a joint trial of all the accused without the concurrence of the High Court.
Who are accused in these two cases? After the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992,
two FIRs were lodged. FIR No. 197/92 was filed against the kar sevaks who allegedly demolished the
mosque; FIR No. 198/92 named, besides Advani, Joshi and Bharti, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and Sadhvi
Rithambara, and others for “making provocative speeches” that instigated the kar sevaks.

**NOTE- This material is just for reference,please go through all the judgments.

Sources (Authentic)

1. Press trust of India


2. Court Judgments
3. All officials reports/surveys etc.
4. UN News
5. United Nations Resolutions
6. World Health Organization (WHO)

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