The much-awaited verdict of the Ram-janmabhoomi-Babri land title dispute will be pronounced today at 10:30 am by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi at Supreme Court.
The Apex court is specially being opened on a Saturday morning and the notification for the same was issued late Friday evening. The verdict will be delivered in the Chief Justice's court room which is court room no. 1 by the five-judge constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice. The five-judge bench comprises of Justices S.A. Bopde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer.
The timing of the judgement is crucial because Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely travel outside India next week. PM has appealed for peace and communal harmony in the country.
"The verdict of the Supreme Court is not a matter of win or lose for anyone. We should all promote unity and harmony which are part of the traditions of the country," tweeted PM Narendra Modi on late Saturday evening.
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During his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, PM had also asked people to maintain calm and warned members of political parties, activists, religious leaders and non-government organisation not to make any irresponsible statement which could create differences between two communities.
Gogoi had a meeting with the chief secretary and director general of police of Uttar Pradesh on Friday afternoon to review the law and order situation in the state ahead of the verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title suit.
The three main parties to the dispute had each presented a different demand to the court.
The Nirmohi Akhara, a religious denomination, had sought directions to construct a Ram temple on the disputed land in Ayodhya and wanted the management rights of the premises to be given to it. Ram Lalla (or the infant Ram), represented by the Hindu Mahasabha, wanted the entire land to be handed over to them, with no part going to Muslim parties or the Nirmohi Akhara.
The Sunni Waqf Board, which looks after religious properties, had demanded that the Babri Masjid be restored to the form that existed before it was brought down by Hindu groups on 6 December 1992.
At 10:30 am it will be known what will be the verdict of five-judge bench in Ram-janmabhoomi-Babri land title dispute case.
The Allahabad High court had pronounced its judgement on 30 September 2010 with majority decision of 2:1, and held that the 2.77 acres land located in Ayodhya will be divided into a three-way division where one-third for the Sunni Waqf Board, one-third for the Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the party for 'Ram Lalla' or infant Ram represented by the Hindu Maha Sabha. Each of the three judges gave a summary and operative part of their own judgements separately and provided a detailed judgment as well which is of approximately 8000 pages. The court had also said that the status quo should be maintained for next three months before the partition of the land takes place on the basis of metes and bounds.
Not satisfied with the judgement of the High court, fourteen appeals had been filed before the Supreme Court against the 2010 ruling of High Court which had said that the disputed 2.77 acres should be equally divided among the three litigants.
On 6 December 1992, Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, was demolished by Hindu groups who wanted a Ram temple to be built at the site.
