Round one of Ayodhya legal battle ends on 24th

Come September 24, the Allahabad high court will tell us whether the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure belongs to Hindu worshippers led by Nirmohi Akhara or Sunni Central Wakf Board.

The Supreme Court (SC) aborted in 1994 the Centre’s attempts to abate pending suits by enacting the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993, after the demolition of the “mosque” in December 1992.

The then PV Narasimha Rao government had sought SC’s opinion on the dispute, but the court wasn’t sure it would be accepted by the government in case it said there was a mosque at the site prior to the temple.

The judges said they did not have the expertise to deal with the case and revived suits that had been hanging fire since 1949, when Lord Ram’s idols were installed at the site.

The high court confirmed this order in April 1955. On February 1, 1986, the Faizabad district judge ordered opening of the lock on a grill leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. It also allowed Hindus to perform puja.

It was peaceful till the disputed structure was razed to the ground. Until then, Nirmohi Akhara and the Wakf board had been getting adjournments.

The protagonists of the right to practice religion and secularism have been making divergent claims. It has been argued that a certain Mir Baqi constructed the “mosque” in 1528. But rivals say Ayodhya has been a place of pilgrimage for Hindus since time immemorial.

Claims and counter-claims apart, legal procedure has also played a vital role in the epic battle. From December 1949 till December 12, 1992, the structure was not used as a mosque.
Then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, an erstwhile BJP stalwart, had promised to project the structure at any cost. But he allowed a so-called temporary construction of certain basic facilities for kar sevaks (volunteers) a couple of months before the Ayodhya tragedy.

Let’s see, how this gigantic prolonged legal dispute is resolved.