Photos: The Ram Janmabhoomi - Babri Masjid title dispute so far
The mediation panel in the Ayodhya land dispute case submitted a status report in a sealed cover on Thursday August 1, 2019 in compliance with the Supreme Court's order. Consequently, the court is to begin hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi - Babri Masjid title case in an open court on August 2. Fourteen appeals are pending before the court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict which ordered equal division of the 2.77-acre disputed land --where the 16th-century Babri Masjid demolished on December 6, 1992 was located --among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Here’s the events so far.
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People climb atop Babri Masjid the day it was demolished in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on December 06, 1992. The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case has dragged on for over 25 years but the dispute is over a century old. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the demolition, the Supreme Court said it will hear appeals regarding the dispute in February 2018. The belief is that the birthplace of Lord Rama is located under the mosque’s central dome. (Sanjay Sharma / HT Archive)
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Muslims demonstrators at India Gate rallying for Babri Masjid on March 30, 1987. While the case took centre stage after the demolition in 1992, disputes over the ownership of the land date back to 18th century with the first incident of violence over the site recorded in 1853. The epic court dispute began when Mahant Raghubir Das, a Hindu priest, filed the first court case and sought permission to build a canopy on the Ramchabutra. (Virendra Prabhakar / HT Archive)
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Hindu groups formed a committee in 1984 to lead the construction of a Ram temple at the Janmabhoomi site and the movement gathered momentum under BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani. In 1989, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) laid the foundation of a Ram temple on the land next to the Babri Masjid. (Rajiv Gupta / HT Archive)
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(L-R) AB Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi and LK Advani at a party National Executive Committee meeting. BJP president Advani in 1990 went on a Somnath-to-Ayodhya Rath Yatra to ‘educate people’ about the movement to build a temple at the site. In 1991, BJP became the primary opposition party and came to power in Uttar Pradesh. The momentum for the temple movement increased as kar sevaks (volunteers) poured into Ayodhya. (HT Archive)
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