LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday ruled by a majority verdict that the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided equally into three parts among Hindus and Muslims and that the place where the makeshift temple of Lord Ram exists belongs to Hindus.
In their separate judgements on the sensitive 60-year old title dispute on Ramjanambhoomi- Babri Masjid structure, Justices S U Khan and Sudhir Agarwal said that the area under the central dome of the three-domed structure where Lord Ram's idol exists belongs to Hindus.
The majority in the three-judge Lucknow bench also ruled that status quo should be maintained at the disputed place for three months.
Justices Khan and Agarwal decreed that the 2.7 acre land comprising the disputed site should be divided into three equal parts and be given to Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the party representing 'Ram Lala Virajman' (Ram deity).
What is Nirmohi Akhara?
Nirmohi Akhara is a Hindu religious denomination following its own religious faith and customs. It is one of the 14 akharas recognized by the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad and belonging to the Vaishnava sampradaya. It is headed by Mahant Bhaskar Das.
The group has been in the spotlight in connection with the Ayodhya debate since 1959 when it filed a suit to take over the disputed site of Babri Mosque.
Nirmohi Akhara filed a suit in January 1985 with the sub-judge of Faizabad, seeking consent to construct a temple for the Indian God Rama in the area called the Ram Chabutra, adjacent to the Babri Mosque. The sub-judge held then that two large religious structures in close proximity could potentially be a threat to public order. Permission was denied by the court, though the Nirmohi Akhara has since kept up its effort to reclaim the land and construct the temple. In 1989, the Nirmohi Akhara filed a lawsuit against the Uttar Pradesh State government claiming that they had been worshipping the deities installed at a temple at the then disputed site since time immemorial. Accordingly, they requested the Court to handover management of the temple to the Nirmohi Akhara.
On September 30, 2010, a Lucknow panel of three judges of the Allahabad High Court pronounced the verdict on the case deciding to give a third part of the land to each party namely the Sunni Waqf Board and the Hindu Mahasabha, with Nirmohi Akhara getting the areas named Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara, within the disputed site