2019 Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute | |
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Court | Supreme Court of India |
Full case name | M Siddiq (D) Thr Lrs v. Mahant Suresh Das & Ors |
Decided | 9 November 2019 |
Citation | [1] [2] |
Case history | |
Appealed from | High Court of Allahabad |
Appealed to | Supreme Court of India |
Subsequent action | See below |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Ranjan Gogoi (CJI), Sharad Arvind Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, S. Abdul Nazeer |
Case opinions | |
Decision by | Joint opinion of 5 judges [3] |
Ayodhya dispute |
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Organizations |
The final judgement in the Ayodhya dispute was declared by the Supreme Court of India on 9 November 2019. [4] The Supreme Court ordered the disputed land (2.77 acres) to be handed over to a trust (to be created by the government of India) to build the Ram Janmabhoomi (revered as the birthplace of Hindu deity, Rama) temple. The court also ordered the government to give an alternative 5 acres of land in another place to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board for the purpose of building a mosque as a replacement for the demolished Babri Masjid.
A subsequent land title case was lodged in the Allahabad High Court, the verdict of which was pronounced on 30 September 2010. In the judgment, the three judges of the Allahabad High Court ruled that the 2.77 acres (1.12 ha) of Ayodhya land be divided into three parts, with 1⁄3 going to the Ram Lalla or Infant Rama represented by the Hindu Mahasabha, 1⁄3 going to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, and the remaining 1⁄3 going to Nirmohi Akhara. The judgment affirmed that the disputed land was the birthplace of Rama as per evidence provided and that the Babri Masjid was built after the demolition of a Hindu temple, noting that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam. [5] [6] [ clarification needed ]
In 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad filed a title suit with the Allahabad High Court seeking injunction to offer puja (worship) at the disputed site. A similar suit was filed shortly after but later withdrawn by Paramhans Das of Ayodhya. [7] In 1959, the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu religious institution, [8] filed a third title suit seeking direction to hand over the charge of the disputed site, claiming to be its custodian. A fourth suit was filed by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board for declaration and possession of the site. The Allahabad High Court bench began hearing the case in 2002, which was completed in 2010. After the Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea to defer the High Court verdict, [9] on 30 September 2010, the High Court of Allahabad, the three-member bench comprising justices S. U. Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D. V. Sharma, ruled that the disputed land be split into three parts. The site of the Ram Lalla idol would go to the party representing Ram Lalla Virajman (the installed Infant Rama deity), Nirmohi Akhara was to receive Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara, and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to receive the rest. The court also ruled that the status quo should be maintained for three months. [10] [11] All the three parties appealed against the division of disputed land to the Supreme Court. [12] [13]
The Supreme Court held final hearing on the case from 6 August 2019 [14] to 16 October 2019. [15] On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the land to be handed over to a trust (to be formed by the Government of India) to build the Hindu temple. It also ordered the government to give 5 acres of land to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to build a mosque as a replacement for the demolished Babri Masjid. [16]
For 15 days preceding the verdict, restrictions were imposed in Ayodhya to prevent violence. Security arrangements were increased across India. Thousands of paramilitary forces and police troops were deployed in Ayodhya and surveillance of the region was carried out using CCTV cameras and drones. [17]
Internet services were closed in several places in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, [18] [19] while it was announced that a total of 31 districts and 673 individuals were being closely monitored. [20] Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of India was invoked in the entire state of Uttar Pradesh [21] as well as in some major cities such as Bangalore, [22] Bhopal, [23] Jaipur, [20] Lucknow, and Mumbai. A public holiday was declared for schools and colleges across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, as well as Delhi, on the day of the verdict. [24] Security was stepped up across various towns in Telangana; 20,000 personnel deployed in Hyderabad, mainly around the communally sensitive areas of the Old City including the Charminar and Mecca Masjid. [25] [26] According to reports, around 40,000 police personnel were deployed in Mumbai [27] and 15,000 in Chennai as a precautionary measure. [28] The prime minister made a public request for maintaining peace and religious harmony. [29]
The five-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously pronounced its verdict on 9 November 2019. [30] [31] The judgement can be summarised as follows. [32] [33] [34] [35]
On 12 December 2019 the Supreme Court dismissed all the 18 petitions seeking review of the verdict. [42]
The primary lawyer of the Muslim parties Zafaryab Jilani said that they were not satisfied with the verdict but added that the verdict also contained some "good examples". [43] The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board's lawyer, Zafaryab Jilani, "expressed dissatisfaction over the Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict, saying it has a lot of contradictions and they will seek a review of it." [44] Zufar Faruqi, chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, issued a statement saying that he accepted the verdict and declared that it will not submit a review petition for the same. [45]
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, a litigant in the dispute, refused to accept the alternative site for a mosque ordered by the court. [46]
All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind decided to file a review petition after rejecting the verdict on 17 November 2019. [47] [48]
Prominent leaders from the Hindu and the Muslim communities extended their support to the Indian government in maintaining peace, after meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. [49] The Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Delhi supported the verdict, saying that the dispute should not continue further. [50] Some major industrial bodies supported the decision. [51]
Many political parties in India supported the judgement. [52] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the judgement will usher in peace and unity in India. [53] The Indian National Congress supported the verdict and called for calm and peace. [54] Political figures such as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M. K. Stalin supported the judgement. [55] [56] The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about the decision saying that it should not be considered as win or loss for anybody. [57] [ better source needed ] In a subsequent address to the nation, he said that there would be peace and unity and that all issues can be solved within the constitutional framework. [58] [59] All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi said that he was not satisfied with the judgement, calling it a victory of "faith over facts". [60]
Congress mouthpiece National Herald [61] , published two articles criticizing the verdict. [62] [63] [64] The editorial later withdrew the articles and issued an apology after facing criticism on social media and from the BJP. [64] [65]
A few celebrities also expressed their opinion in support for the decision and called for harmony and peace. [66]
1045-page judgment referring Sikhism as a 'cult' instead of a distinct sovereign religion and quoting accounts of Nihang Sikh worshiping idols which is totally prohibited in Sikhism, was condemned by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, [67] [68] Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, [69] H. S. Phoolka [70] and Sikhs. [71] [72] Dr. Manjit Singh Randhawa filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to expunge 'all distorted facts' in the verdict judgment and word 'cult' while referring to the Sikh religion. [73]
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs briefed foreign envoys and diplomats about the verdict on 9 November 2019. [74]
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, criticised the verdict and questioned its timing as it coincided with the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor. He called the court verdict an indication of the "bigoted ideology of Modi government". [75]
Ayodhya is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became the top tourist destination of Uttar Pradesh with 110 million visitors in the first half of 2024, surpassing Varanasi.
Babri Masjid was a mosque in Ayodhya, India. It has been claimed to have been built upon the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, the legendary birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communities since the 19th century. According to the mosque's inscriptions, it was built in 1528–29 by Mir Baqi, a commander of the Mughal emperor Babur. Before the 1940s, the masjid was officially known as "Masjid-i-Janmasthan". The mosque was attacked and demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob in 1992, which ignited communal violence across the Indian subcontinent.
Ram Janmabhoomi is the site that, according to Hindu religious beliefs, is the birthplace of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the banks of the Sarayu river in a city called "Ayodhya". Modern-day Ayodhya is in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is contested whether the Ayodhya mentioned in the Ramayana is the same as the modern city.
The Liberhan Commission was a long-running inquiry commissioned by the Government of India to investigate the destruction of the disputed structure Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992. Led by retired High Court Judge M. S. Liberhan, it was formed on 16 December 1992 by an order of the Indian Home Union Ministry after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December and the subsequent riots there. The commission was originally mandated to submit its report within three months. Extensions were given 48 times, and after a delay of 17 years, the one-man commission submitted the report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 30 June 2009. In November 2009, a day after a newspaper published the allegedly leaked contents of the report, the report was tabled in Parliament by the Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
The archaeology of Ayodhya concerns the excavations and findings in the Indian city of Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh, much of which surrounds the Babri Mosque location.
Kalyan Singh was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh during the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He is considered an icon of Hindu nationalism, and of the agitation to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical, and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around the control of a site regarded since at least the 18th century among many Hindus to be the birthplace of their deity Rama, the history and location of the Babri Masjid mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid was carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, India, had been the subject of a lengthy socio-political dispute, and was targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent.
Nirmohi Akhara is a Hindu religious denomination. It is one of the fourteen akharas recognized by the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad and belongs to the Vaishnav Bairagi Sampradaya.
The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara ParishadABAP, one of the organizations of Hindu sants (saints) and sadhus (ascetics) in India. The ABAP is composed of 14 akharas, or organisations of Hindu sants and sadhus. Nirmohi Akhara and Shri Dattatreya Akhara are two of the prominent akharas which are part of it.
Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas is an organisation which was formed as a trust to promote and oversee the construction of a temple in Ayodhya, India at the Ram Janmabhoomi, the reputed site of the birth of the Hindu deity Rama. The Nyas was formed by members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad.
The Ram Rath Yatra was a political and religious rally that lasted from September to October 1990. It was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu nationalist affiliates, and led by the then-president of the BJP, L. K. Advani. The purpose of the yatra was to support the agitation, led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its affiliates in the Sangh Parivar, to erect a temple to the Hindu deity Rama on the site of the Babri Masjid.
Dhaneshwar Mandal is a retired Professor in Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology at Allahabad University. He is widely known for his strong position against the excavations at the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The Uttar Pradesh police opened fire at civilians because they were heading to demolish the Babri Masjid on two separate days, 30 October 1990 and 2 November 1990, in the aftermath of the Ram Rath Yatra. The civilians were religious volunteers, or kar sevaks, assembled near the Ram Janmabhoomi site at Ayodhya. The state government's official records report that at least 17 people were killed.
Ram Ki Janmabhoomi is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Sanoj Mishra. The film is produced and written by Jitendra Narayan Singh and stars Manoj Joshi and Govind Namdev. The movie deals with the controversial issue of Ram Mandir. The film was theatrically released on 29 March 2019. It is produced by Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi.
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra is a trust set up for the construction and management of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya by the Government of India in February 2020. The trust is composed of 15 trustees.
The Ram Mandir is a partially constructed Hindu temple complex in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India. Many Hindus believe that it is located at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, the mythical birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism. The temple was inaugurated on 22 January 2024 after a prana pratishtha (consecration) ceremony. On the first day of its opening, following the consecration, the temple received a rush of over half a million visitors, and after a month, the number of daily visitors was reported to be between 100,000 and 150,000.
Dhannipur is a village in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh, India. In February 2020, the government allotted 5 acres (2.0 ha) of agricultural land at Dhannipur in Ayodhya municipal corporation to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board as an alternative site for constructing a mosque, to replace the Babri Masjid that was demolished in 1992. The Babri Masjid, after being re-built is now known as the Mohammed Bin Abdullah Masjid.
The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board is a body constituted under The Wakf Act, 1995 of the Government of India, for general superintendence of the affairs of Sunni Muslim waqf (charity) properties, waqf institutions of the Sunni Muslim community of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Its chairman is Zufar Ahmad Faruqi. The Sunni Waqf Board has been the main Muslim litigant in the Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute.
The Muhammad bin Abdullah Masjid or Ayodhya Mosque is a mosque being constructed in Dhannipur, Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh, at a site designated by the Supreme Court of India following its verdict on the Ayodhya dispute case.
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