Ayodhya Case: Decoding the Allahabad verdict in 2010

New Delhi, Nov 09: The Supreme Court will pronounce its historic verdict on petitions against the 2010 Allahabad High Court order in the politically-sensitive Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case today.

Ahead of the verdict, lets have a look at the Allahabad High Court verdict of 2010 that had directed a three-way partition of the disputed land among Bhagwan Ramlalla Virajman, Nirmohi Akhara and Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.

In September 2010, the three-judge bench comprising Justice S U Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice D V Sharma - ruled in a majority judgment 2:1, that there be a three-way division of the disputed land - one-third for the Sunni Waqf Board, one-third for the Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the party for 'Ram Lalla'.

The Allahabad High Court judgement that ran into excess of 6000 pages asked each side to give entry and exit rights to the other. The High Court verdict was challenged in the Supreme Court, which on May 9, 2011, ordered a stay on it.

The apex court recently fixed October 17 as the last date of hearing in the matter.

Verdict on Temple-Mosque dispute

The bench gave a dissent verdict on whether there existed a Hindu temple that was demolished to build the Babri Masjid. Justices Agarwal and Sharma relied on the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) findings to conclude that a Hindu temple-like structure had been demolished in order to build the Babri Masjid mosque. Justice Khan dissented to these findings saying that the Mosque was constructed over the ruins of temples which lay long before the construction of the mosque.

The Allahabad High Court order of 2010 was in response to five suits filed over the Ayodhya disputed from 1950 to 1989; these suits had been initially filed before a civil court in Faizabad. They were transferred to the Allahabad High Court in 1989. A sixth suit was withdrawn in 1990.

The court dismissed two major claims to the land one filed in 1989 on behalf Ram Lalla, or the infant Lord Ram, and the second by the Sunni Waqf Board filed in 1961.