The Ayodhya almanac: All about the political, legal and moral dimensions of Babri Masjid dispute
You could call it divine coincidence. The Supreme Court's hearings on the title suits began a day before the 25th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, which tore the nation asunder and left over 2,000 people dead in riots across the country. The memory and collective guilt of that national shame and doing justice to both the perpetrators and the victims must guide the courts.
The Ayodhya dispute has existed almost as long as independent India itself. The legal battle between Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya began in 1949 as a title dispute. By the 1980s, the case had shot to centre stage, riding a wave of identity politics. In the early 1990s, the dispute gained popular support and took the shape of a movement, which culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
The political leadership shifted the matter into the courts' realm. But the cases have been hanging fire for 25 years. In 2010, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court delivered a judgment, but the parties involved appealed against it in the Supreme Court.
While the criminal cases post the demolition of the mosque are being heard in the CBI court in Lucknow, the civil title suits are in the Supreme Court, with the next hearing on February 8, 2018.
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