11/11/2019 Placing Idols In Mosque Led To Litigations Over Ayodhya Site: Supreme Court

Placing Idols In Mosque Led To

Litigations Over Ayodhya Site:
Top Court
The apex court said that the run-up to the incident saw the
posting of a police picket at the site on November 12, 1949,
due to communal tensions.
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: November 11, 2019 08:55 IST
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Top Court in a historic verdict backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed
site.

New Delhi:

The incident of placing of idols inside the Babri Mosque in 1949, which wasOPEN CUBE
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11/11/2019 Placing Idols In Mosque Led To Litigations Over Ayodhya Site: Supreme Court

attachment of the disputed land by a magisterial court, led to the filing of the first of five

suits in connection with the controversial site, the Supreme Court has said in its historic
verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute.

The apex court said that the run-up to the incident saw the posting of a police picket at
the site on November 12, 1949, due to communal tensions.

Thereafter, a letter was sent to Faizabad District Magistrate KK Nayar by the senior
police officer raising concerns that Hindus were likely to force an entry into the mosque
to install idols there, the verdict said.

Subsequently, the Waqf inspector gave a report stating that Muslims were being
harassed by Hindus when they sought to pray in the mosque, a five-judge Constitution
bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi recalled in its Saturday's judgement.

The bench noted that KK Nayar, who was also the Deputy Commissioner of Faizabad,
had, however, sent a communication dated December 6, 1949, to the Uttar Pradesh
Home Secretary stating there was no need to give credence to Muslims'' apprehensions
over the mosque's safety.

On the intervening night of December 22-23, 1949, a group of about 50-60 people broke
open the locks of the mosque and placed idols of Lord Ram under the central dome,
leading to registration of an FIR in connection with the incident.

On December 26, 1949, in a letter to the UP Chief Secretary, KK Nayar expressed

surprise over the incident but declined to carry out the state government's orders to have
the idols removed from the mosque.

He shot off another letter the next day stating that he would not be able to find any Hindu
to remove the idols.

He proposed that the mosque should be attached by excluding both Hindus and
Muslims, with the exception of a minimum number of pujaris.

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Subsequently, terming the situation as an emergent one, the Additional City Magistrate
of Faizabad-cum-Ayodhya on December 29, 1949 issued an order attaching the disputed
site.

The Additional City Magistrate entrusted the site to Priya Datt Ram, chairman of the
Municipal Board, who was also appointed as the receiver.

Thereafter, on January 16, 1950, a suit was instituted by a Hindu devotee - Gopal Singh
Visharad - before the Civil Judge at Faizabad, alleging that he was being prevented by
government officials from entering the inner courtyard to worship.

In arguments before the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court, the Nirmohi
Akhara denied the occurrence of the event and claimed that the idols were always
present below the central dome of the mosque.

The High Court in its verdict had held that the idols were placed inside the mosque on
the intervening night of December 22-23, 1949 and that the Nirmohi Akhara had failed to
establish that the idols had been in existence prior to that.

The apex court in its judgement said: "On a preponderance of probabilities which govern
civil trials, the finding of the High Court that the idols of the deity were installed in the
intervening night of December 22-23, 1949 commends itself for our acceptance."

The Supreme Court in a historic verdict on Saturday backed the construction of a Ram
temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre
plot must be allotted for construction of a mosque in the Hindu holy town.

The five-judge Constitution bench also comprised Justices S A Bobde, DY Chandrachud,

Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.

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