India’s epic legal battle over religious site

The end, perhaps, is now nigh in the epic legal dispute over a religious site that has sparked thousands of deaths, with India's top court wrapping up hearings yesterday. Judges are now expected to rule on the ownership of the area claimed by both Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya in northern India by November 17. From 16th-century emperors to deadly riots, via a nonagenarian lawyer representing an infant deity, here is the background to the labyrinthine legal saga dating back more than a century.

The tussle centres on an area of land measuring just 2.77 acres (1.1 hectares) in Ayodhya, a small city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. India's majority Hindus believe that Lord Ram, one of their most important deities, was born there. They also believe the Muslim conqueror Babur, the first Mughal emperor, razed the temple in the 1500s to make way for a mosque, the Babri Masjid.

Under British colonial rule, a fence was erected to separate places of worship so Muslims could worship in an inner court and Hindus the outer. The first legal dispute emerged in 1885 with a plea seeking permission to build a canopy outside the mosque premises for Hindu devotees. But in 1949, two years after independence, idols of Lord Ram appeared inside the mosque which allegedly were placed there in a staged "miracle".

Muslims objected and both parties went to court, kicking off a tortuous legal battle over the right to worship at the site, which continues to this day. In 1984, Hindus formed a committee to "liberate" Ram's birthplace and build a temple, led by L. K. Advani, a senior figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indias epic legal battle over religious site

The end, perhaps, is now nigh in the epic legal dispute over a religious site that has sparked thousands of deaths, with Indias top court wrapping up hearings yesterday. Judges are now expected to rule on the ownership of the area claimed by both Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya in northern India by November 17. From 16th-century emperors to deadly riots, via a nonagenarian lawyer representing an infant deity, here is the background to the labyrinthine legal saga dating back more than a century. The tussle centres on an area of land measuring just 2.77 acres (1.1 hectares) in Ayodhya, a small city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Indias majority Hindus believe that Lord Ram, one of their most important deities, was born there. They also believe the Muslim conqueror Babur, the first Mughal emperor, razed the temple in the 1500s to make way for a mosque, the Babri Masjid. Under British colonial rule, a fence was erected to separate places of worship so Muslims could worship in an inner court and Hindus the outer. The first legal dispute emerged in 1885 with a plea seeking permission to build a canopy outside the mosque premises for Hindu devotees. But in 1949, two years after independence, idols of Lord Ram appeared inside the mosque which allegedly were placed there in a staged miracle. Muslims objected and both parties went to court, kicking off a tortuous legal battle over the right to worship at the site, which continues to this day. In 1984, Hindus formed a committee to liberate Rams birthplace and build a temple, led by L. K. Advani, a senior figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.