This is a dialogue between Mr. Curious (C) and Mr. Omniscient (O) where Mr. Curious wants to understand about the Ayodhya case.
| Mr. Curious: | Today on 9th of Nov, Supreme Court delivered its judgment on Ayodhya case. Now they told to build temple there. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Hmmmm!!!! You are wrong; Supreme court judgment was not to build temple there. |
| Mr. Curious: | What are you saying!!! I was listening News, most of them were saying this only. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | I am not sure, whether you know that what is the case about? |
| Mr. Curious: | Is not it about making the mosques or temple? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | No!! Not at all.. |
| Mr. Curious: | Then What is it about? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | It is about land dispute. There were multiple parties which are claiming their rights on the land and Supreme Court decided to whom that land belongs to. However now only three parties were claiming. |
| Mr. Curious: | Which are these three parties? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | These three parties are U.P. Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. |
| Mr. Curious: | What is Sunni Waqf Board? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Let’s first understand what is waqf. . Waqf means movable or immovable properties given for religious or charitable purposes as recognized by Muslim Law. And the bodies who manage these properties are Waqf Board. Sunni Waqf Board is one of this type of board. There are various other waqf boards like Kerala Waqf board. “Sunni” represent one of the sects among Muslim. Other sect is Shia. We will talk about these sects some other time. But As Babur is Sunni Muslim so the Mosque build on his name is considered sacred place by Sunni Muslim. Also it is UP Sunni Waqf board who is claiming there right. |
| Mr. Curious: | What about Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Nirmohi Akhara, It is body of Hindus, practicing a particular type of Hindu tradition. This can be said it is one of Hindu Religious Denomination (called as Akhara in Hindi). There are fourteen Akharas and Nirmohi is one of them. |
| Mr. Curious: | And what is Ram Lalla? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | However Ram Lalla means infant form of Lord Ram of Hindu. To be exact, it is “Ram Lalla Virajman”. And he is fighting for his claim on land. |
| Mr. Curious: | But he is God, how he can do it? I mean he is not even in living form. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Hmm!!! Under Indian law, a Hindu deity is considered a “juristic person” with the right to sue and be sued. So he can claim his rights. And this Divine infant is represented in court by lawyers. Hindu Maha Sabha is His representative. |
| Mr. Curious: | Interesting. So!! Court decided that this land belongs to whom? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Yes. Now it was up to the concerned party what they wanted to do with land. For instance Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla were saying that if they got the claim on land they will built the Ram Mandir there and Sunni Waqf Board talking about building the Mosque there. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! Supreme judgment is about the Land dispute. Temple, Mosque was, what the involving parties are claiming. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Exactly!!!… Can you guess, How old is this dispute? |
| Mr. Curious: | I don’t know… But I think it should be as old as our independence that is around 65-70 years!! |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Your guess is not even near to the actual. |
| Mr. Curious: | Is it there even before independence. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | It is around 135 years old case. Let’s look at the timeline of this matter. Let’s start from Beginning. First Babri Masjid was built in 1528. Can you guess, by whom it was built? |
| Mr. Curious: | It is Babri Masjid, so must be built by Babur!!!! |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Nope!! It was built by Mir Baqi who was commander of Mughal emperor Babur. And it was build in Ayodhya which fall in District Faizabad of Utter-Pradesh. And Ayodhya is considered to be birth place of Hindu Lord “Rama” |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! When the dispute started over the land. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | In 1885 , first time a plea is filed by Mahant Raghubir Das in Faizabad district court. It is believed that he belongs to Nirmohi Akhara. The plea is filed to get permission to build a canopy outside the disputed Ram Janamabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure. |
| Mr. Curious: | What was the court decision? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Court rejected that plea on ground that it can cause the unrest among Hindu and Muslim. |
| Mr. Curious: | Is matter settled after that? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | No, then after independence in 1949, idols of Ram Lalla (name used for God Ram’s Child form) is placed outside the disputed structure. |
| Mr. Curious: | So Both Hindus and Muslim are worshiping in same place. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | No, only idols were placed, worship was not started. In 1950 some people again file the suit in Faizabad court to use the site for worshiping. The matter was pending in Court and decision of worship came in 1986. But before that many things happened |
| Mr. Curious: | What things? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Started to claim on land. Started from 1959, people started to file suit for claim on land. First in 1959, Nirmohi Akhara files suit seeking possession of the site. And, then in 1981, UP Sunni Waqf Board filed suit for claim? |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! Then what? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | It was 1986 that Faizabad Court allowed believers to worship there where idols were placed. But land was still under dispute. |
| Mr. Curious: | What about the land dispute. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Regarding that, first judgment came by Allahabad High Court in Aug 14, 1989. It was said that the status quo will be maintained at the site. |
| Mr. Curious: | What was the status quo ? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | That Babri Masjid will remain as it is and Hindu can worship there. Land right will be decided in due course of time. Till then site is open for both Hindu and Muslim. |
| Mr. Curious: | okie!!! |
| Mr. Omniscient: | But in Dec 6, 1992 Babri Masjid structure was demolished. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! Then we know lots of riot was happen, especially in Mumbai…. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Yes!! Fateful day. Then from 2002 High court started hearing to decide claim on land. |
| Mr. Curious: | When did the High court give its decision? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | It was in 2010 when High court given its decision on ownership of land. |
| Mr. Curious: | What was that? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | They have divided the disputed land equally between Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Total and was around 2.77 acre, so each body to get around 0.92 acre |
| Mr. Curious: | So thing should be settled there. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | No!! Supreme Court stayed Allahbad High Court verdit on case. There was lots of hearing, suggestion for outside court settlement, but no solution cove over. And in Jan 2019, case is referred to constitutional bench of Supreme Court. |
| Mr. Curious: | Hmmm!!! |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Then on Aug of 2019, Supreme Court decided to hear the matter on day to day basis. Then comes the day of Oct 16 2019, when Supreme Court came to the decision but they have kept the judgment reserved. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie… So, today on 9th of November they delivered the judgment….. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Yes!! Now, have you understood what this judgement is about and You also appreciate how old is this dispute…. |
| Mr. Curious: | SO it is a simple land dispute from Supreme Court perspective. But as religious issue are involved, therefore there is lots of unrest here. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Yes!!! But it is not simple judgment. In fact this judgment set precedent for future Supreme Court Judgment |
| Mr. Curious: | What are these? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Let’s first see what is judgment. This is unanimous judgment. |
| Mr. Curious: | What is unanimous means here? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | You are having bench of 5 judges. So unanimous means all 5 judges are agreeing on judgment. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie… |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Supreme Court agreed that as per Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Babri Masjid was not constructed on vacant land and underlines structure is not Islamic in nature. Court has also taken the cognisance of the fact that the faith and belief of Hindus that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya is undisputed. |
| Mr. Curious: | But to whom land is given? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Supreme Court said that Ram Lalla has right on disputed land. And whole 2.77 acres land is given to Ram Lalla. And it means….. |
| Mr. Curious: | Temple will be build there.. But what about Muslim rights? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Supreme Court has said the Waqf board will be provided 5 acres of land for Mosque Development. And government has to do it in 3 months. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! But how this set the precedent for future Supreme Court Judgement? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | This is first judgment where it is decided whether religious faith can become the basis to decide the ownership of land. Not only that, decision on birth place of Lord was taken by court, which is a unique event. |
| Mr. Curious: | Okie!!! |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Interestingly, as Babur has given the land to Muslim Waqf board, as they are claiming, so through this judgment it is also talked about the legal validity of some emprorer’s decision in historical India. |
| Mr. Curious: | Ohh!!! It is very interesting to see the court decision not only from the perspective of religious angle but also the law angle.. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Absolutely right. |
| Mr. Curious: | One thing I want to know, prior to this judgment land belongs to whom?? |
| Mr. Omniscient: | Presently, it is under the possession Government as per Revenue record. |
| Mr. Curious: | But still it is out of my imagination, a small land dispute can take such a big form that whole country is given so much attention to it…. |
| Mr. Omniscient: | This is historical judgment with mix of religious, political, historical and legal colors. |
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