Ayodhya land to be divided into 3 parts

In a much-awaited verdict, the Allahabad High Court today ruled that the 2.77 acre disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three parts among Hindus and Muslims and held that the place where the makeshift temple of Lord Rama currently exists belongs to Hindus.

The majority 2-1 verdict of the Lucknow bench of the court, said to be running into nearly 8,000 pages, comes after nearly 60 years of tortuous litigation over who holds the title to the disputed site. Still, the order may not be the last word and the issue may land up in the Supreme Court.

As an anxious nation awaited the court verdict in the highly-sensitive issue with lakhs of security personnel deployed in Uttar Pradesh and other sensitive places across the country, the order of Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma became public just before 4.30 PM amid high drama.

The judges wrote three separate judgements but the majority verdict held that the area covered by the central dome of the three-domed structure where the idol of Lord Rama is presently situated belongs to Hindus.

"The disputed site is (indeed) the birthplace of Lord Ram," said the brief two-page official synopsis of the judgement. It ruled that the place of Ram's birth must also be construed as a juristic person and a deity.

"It is personified as the spirit of divine worshipped as birthplace of Lord Rama as a child," the majority ruling said.

Justices Khan and Agarwal said the entire disputed land should be divided into three equal parts, each to be given to Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the parties representing 'Ram Lalla Virajman' (seated Baby Ram).

Perhaps for the first in judicial history, a verdict was delivered in high security with media and lawyers and parties unrelated to the case kept out of the court premises.

Press briefings were arranged in the District Collectorate opposite the court premises and summary of the judgements immediately uploaded on the website.

The majority judges declared maintenance of status quo at the disputed land for three months.

All the three judges of the High Court were unanimous on the ownership of the place where the makeshift temple exists. However, Justice Sharma held that the entire disputed area belonged to Hindus.

"It is further declared that the portion below the central dome where at present the idol is kept in makeshift temple will be allotted to Hindus in final decree," Justice Khan said.

"It is declared that the area covered by the central dome of the three domed structure, i.e., the disputed structure being the deity of Bhagwan Ram Janamsthan and place of birth of Lord Rama as per faith and belief of the Hindus, belong to plaintiffs (filed on behalf of Lord Ram) and shall not be obstructed or interfered in any manner by the defendants," Justice Agarwal said.

Both Justices Khan and Agarwal were also of the view that the rest of the area be shared by Hindus, Muslims and Nirmohi Akhara.

"The area within the inner courtyard (where disputed structure stood) denoted by letters B C D L K J H G in Appendix 7 (excluding (i) above) belong to members of both the communities, i.e., Hindus (here plaintiffs, Suit-5) and Muslims since it was being used by both since decades and centuries," Justice Agarwal said adding that a portion of outer courtyard in declared in the favour of Nirmohi Akhara.