Ayodhya Verdict: Both The Parties Will Appeal

Ayodhya, over the years, has been the centre of a heady mix of mythology, facts, politics, law and religious zeal.

LIG reported yesterday that the Sunni Waqf board has decided to file a petition against the Allahabad judgement. News has just started coming in that dozens of VHP cadres have already assembled at Karsewakpuram. The Hindu wing Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas too has initiated a similar move, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of the Nyas said, “it was not a question of victory or defeat for any section of society. We will challenge the High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court.”

Social networking sites are abuzz with the verdict and "#ayodhya, Allahabad High Court and Ayodhya Verdict were the top global trends during the time of the verdict, between 3:30 and 4:30 PM IST.

Out of the 28 issues four lawsuits which were examined were 

1. Who owns the site?
2. Was Lord Rama actually born in Ayodhya?
3. Was there a temple in place of the disputed site before 1528?

Interestingly, Lord Rama is named as the petitioner.

The Judgement

On September 30 the Allahabad HC comprising of Justices D V Sharma, SU Khan and Sudhir Agarwal has pronounced a landmark judgment which favours none of the parties. Justice D V Sharma in his report has said that the Masjid was definitely constructed post demolition of a temple, whereas Justice S U Khan has said the Baabri Masjid was built by, or on the orders, of the then Emperor Babar, but not by demolishing a religious structure. The mosque, Justice Khan said, was built over the ruins of the Hindu religious structure and lot of raw materials used to construct the mosque was taken from the ruins of the temple.

The judgment reads that the total area under the central dome of the structure, where in 1949 and 1992  Rama’s idols were installed, would belong to the Hindus, and the area named as Ram Chabootara and Sita Rasoi would belong to Nirmohi Akhara.

Palash Das is the writer of this post