Supreme Court to hear appeals in Ayodhya matter

• The Supreme Court decided to hear the civil appeals filed by various parties challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute on February 8 next year.
• A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Najeeb also asked the Advocates on Record of appeals to sit together and ensure that all the requisite documents are translated, filed and numbered before the apex court Registry.

About Dispute:

• At the core of the nearly 70-year-old Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute is the belief that Lord Ram was born 9,00,000 years ago in the Treta Yuga, in a room located under what was the central dome of the Babri Masjid.
• The masjid was built on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur in the 16th century and had occupied 1,482.5 square yards before its demolition by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.
• On September 30, 2010, a three-judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court upheld the Hindu belief, reasoning that the “world knows” where Ram’s birthplace is.
• The Bench ordered a partition of the site occupied by the Babri Masjid equally among the U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla, the deity.
• In May 2011, on appeals by the Sunni Waqf Board and other parties, the Supreme Court stayed the judgment, calling it a “leap of faith.”
• The stay ensured status quo, which meant that a lone priest would continue to worship in the makeshift temple built at the site — a custom legitimised in the Ayodhya Act of 1993.
• The ban continued on any mode of activity on the 67 acres acquired by the Centre following the Supreme Court orders of March 13 and 14, 2002.
• Now, the appeals are due for hearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on December 5.
• The hearing coincides with the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition. The case banks mostly on documents written in languages as varied as Persian and Arabic, dating back to the 16th century.

By: Vishal