Ayodhya dispute since 1853: a timeline before and after the demolition of Babri mosque

The five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer will pronounce the verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute on Saturday, November 9, 2019.

The bench had begun daily hearings on appeals filed against the three-way division of the disputed site by the Allahabad High Court in 2010 on August 06, 2019, after the mediation panel set up at the behest of the top court failed to reach a consensus.

Here is a timeline of the case:

1528- A mosque was built on the currently disputed site by the then Mughal emperor Babur.

And then for years, there was no confusion. Prayers used to be held at the mosque. But, after the British began to rule the country, conflicts between the two communities began.

1853: Hindus staked claim on the land and demanded access. The Faizabad District administration, which was under the British, stepped in to mediate. They gave access till the outer courtyard to the Hindus. It was around this time that Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabootara were allegedly built.

1885: Mahant Raghubir Das of Nirmohi Akhara files the first suit in the matter stating his right to pray on the land. The Faizabad District Magistrate refuses him permission. Next, Mahant Raghubir Das files a title suit in Faizabad Court against the Secretary of State for India, seeking permission to build a temple on the chabootara of the Babri mosque. His plea was rejected by the British government.

1946: Akhil Bharatiya Ramayana Mahasabha, a wing of Hindu Mahasabha, begins to agitate for possession of land.

December 1949: On the night of December 22, a Ram idol appears inside the mosque. Muslims begin to protest. Though Hindus have been claiming that it was ‘divine revelation’, it has been alleged that the idol was smuggled inside the mosque at night. Hindus agitate to offer prayers. The Government declared the site as "dispute land" and locked the entrance.

1950: Two suits are filed in Faizabad court by Gopal Singh Visharad and Paramhansa Ramachandra Das, seeking permission to pray to Ram Lalla. The court granted them permission, but the inner courtyard gates remain locked.

1959: Nirmohi Akhara and Mahant Raghunath file a third suit, seeking possession of the land. They state they are the sect responsible the management of the temple premises, including offering of puja.

1961: Realising quite late that the Hindus intended to take over the land, UP Sunni Wakf Board files a suit seeking possession of Babri Mosque site. Additionally, it demands the removal of Ram idols from Babri Masjid as it states that the 'surrounding area of the masjid was a graveyard.'

February 1, 1986: A lawyer UC Pandey appeals before the Faizabad Session Court for the gates to be unlocked - on the grounds that the Faizabad district administration, and not a Court, had ordered its closure in 1885. The court orders the locks to be removed to allow Hindu prayers. Muslims constitute a Babri Mosque Action Committee (BMAC) in protest.

Late 1980s: BJP, along with VHP, organises protests in Ayodhya for the possession of the temple.

1989: Until this stage there was no RSS or VHP involvement in the case. Then in 1989, retired high court judge DN Agarwal, who was vice president of VHP, filed Suit number five claiming ownership of the disputed land and sought sanction to build a new building in place of the old structure in the name of Ram Lalla Virajman. This is how RSS and VHP wriggled themselves into the case.

All title suits are shifted to the Allahabad High Court.

November 9, 1989: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi permits VHP to lay the foundation stone for the Ram temple near disputed area.

September 25, 1990: LK Advani launches his Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to garner support for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Communal riots break out and a mob partially destroys the mosque.

1991: BJP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh under the Chief Ministership of Kalyan Singh

December 6, 1992: Babri Masjid is razed by a frenzied mob of Karsevaks after several BJP leaders including LK Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi camped in the area to whip up communal passions. The Karsevaks construct a make-shift temple in its place. It sparks communal riots in many parts of the country, including Mumbai.

December 16, 1992: 10 days after the demolition of the mosque, Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao forms a committee. Led by retired High Court Judge MS Liberhan, the committee was to look into circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque and the communal riots.

January 7, 1993: The government acquires the Ayodhya land. The Narasimha Rao government issued an ordinance acquiring 67.7 acres of land (the disputed site and adjoining areas). Later, it passed a law – Acquisition of Certain Areas at Ayodhya Act, 1993, to facilitate acquisition of land by Central government.

1994: The Supreme Court, in what is now famously known as the Ismail Faruqui Judgment by a majority of 3:2, upheld the constitutionality of acquisition of certain areas. The majority judgment by former CJI JS Verma reasoned that every religious immovable property is liable to be acquired. The SC ruled that offering Namaz at mosque was not integral to Islam unless that mosque had any particular significance in Islam. This judgement has been severely criticised as it stated that the mosque was not essential as a place of worship to Islam.

February 2002: VHP announces that it will start temple construction by March 15, 2002. Several volunteers reach Ayodhya to help construct the temple, but the law prevails and they begin to go back. One of the trains, Sabarmathi Express, which was returning from Ayodhya carrying volunteers on February 27, 2002, was burnt by a violent mob near Godhra in Gujarat. At least 59 people were killed in the attack. It was followed by a pogrom in Gujarat, killing more than 1,000 people.

April 2002: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court begins hearing Ayodhya title dispute. The court orders Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to excavate the site to determine if a temple lay underneath the mosque.

March - August 2003: ASI excavates the land underneath the disputed site and claims to have found remnants of a 10th century Hindu temple. The contentious report is said to have diverging opinions.

June 30, 2009: After 17 years, the Librehan Commission submits its report to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The report is not made public

November 2009: Home Minister P Chidambaram tabled the report in Parliament. The report stated that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was planned, systematic, and was intended to create a climate of communal intolerance by the Sangh Parivar. The report blamed 68 persons for the demolition, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

September 30, 2010: Allahabad HC finally delivers its verdict and splits the land three ways - one third each to Sunni Wakf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla Virajman. The HC allotted the dome of the demolished Babri Masjid, under which the makeshift temple currently stands, to Ram Lalla. The nearby Ram Chabutra and Sita Rasoi to Nirmohi Akhara. The Sunni Wakf Board gets the outer courtyard of the disputed land.

May 2011: Supreme Court stays Allahabad High Court verdict and admits a batch of petitions.

February 26, 2016: Subramanian Swamy files plea in SC seeking construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site

March 21, 2017: Former Chief Justice Khehar suggests an out of court settlement of the dispute.

August 11, 2017: The three-judge bench of SC comprising CJI Dipak Misra, Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer begin to hear the appeal.

Feb – July 2018: The petitioners argue for referring the 1994 Ismail Faruqui judgment to a 7-judge Bench for reconsideration.

September 27, 2018: The 3-judge bench in a 2:1 verdict held that the Ismail Faruqui judgment of 1994 does not require reconsideration by a larger bench.

January 8, 2019: CJI Gogoi used his administrative powers to list the matter before a 5-judge constitution bench, headed by the CJI himself and comprising Justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana, UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud, overturning the September 2018 judgment.

January 10, 2019: Justice UU Lalit recuses from the case and this prompts the Supreme Court to reschedule the hearing to January 29 before a new bench.

January 25, 2019: The SC reconstitutes 5-member Constitution Bench to hear the case. The new bench comprises CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer.

March 8, 2019: After 2 days of hearing, the Constitution Bench orders a court-monitored mediation, despite objections. The mediators are former SC judge, Justice FMI Kalifulla, godman Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu.

August 2, 2019: Efforts to mediate a final settlement between Hindu and Muslim parties fail. The constitution bench led by the CJI decides to hear the appeals from August 6 daily.

October 15, 2019: After 40 days of marathon hearing, Supreme Court reserves verdict

November 9, 2019: The much awaited verdict is due to be delivered