SC to give verdict on Ayodhya land dispute on Saturday

The Supreme Court would on Saturday pronounce its judgement in the seven-decade-old the Ayodhya dispute case related to Babri Masjid and Ram Temple.

The top court had reserved its judgement on October 16 in the legal battle, where both the Hindu and Muslim sides made their arguments for 40 days to lay their claims over 2.77 acres of land.

A five-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi would pass the judgement in the matter which has seen both the Hindu and Muslims made high-pitched arguments.

The Hindus claimed the site belonged to them for being the birthplace of Lord Rama while the Muslims asserted that it was a 16th-century mosque known as 'Babri Masjid', demolished on December 6, 1992.

The bench, which comprised Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, is delivering the judgement on a Saturday when the courts normally do not assemble.

Earlier, on Friday, considering the sensitive nature of the case, CJI Gogoi, along with other judges of the bench met Uttar Pradesh
Chief Secretary Rajendra Prasad Tiwari and DGP O P Singh where they were informed about beefed up security arrangement in Ayodhya.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan and Zafaryab Jilani and others represented the Muslim sides. The Hindu sides were led by senior advocates nonagenarian K Parasaran, C S Vaidyanathan, P N Mishra, Sushil Kumar Jain, P S Narasimha, among others in more than 14 appeals.

The Muslim sides included Sunni Central Waqf Board, and M Siddiq, Farooq Ahmad and Mohd Hashim, all dead, and led by their legal representatives. Mahant Suresh Das through legal representatives, Ram Lalla Virajman, Nirmohi Akhara represented the Hindu sides.

A batch of petitions was filed in the matter against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement that directed for three-part equal division of 2.77 acres of land among the Sunni Central Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla Virajman.

The Muslim sides asserted the right for them to reconstruct the mosque and to pray over there on the ground that title belonged to them.

“Our plea is not just for title. There are many other aspects. The declaration is for public waqf. It was a public mosque," they said.

The Hindu sides contended the Muslims have no evidence of title or possession. They claimed there was no mention of the structure being used for offering namaz.