NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Supreme Court is due to rule on Saturday on the ownership of a centuries-old religious site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, in a case that has fueled suspicion and sparked deadly riots between the communities.
Devotees look at a model of the proposed Ram temple that Hindu groups want to build at a disputed religious site in Ayodhya, India, October 22, 2019. Picture taken October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Following is a timeline of the events that have shaped the case.
1528 – The mosque in Ayodhya, in what is now India’s biggest state of Uttar Pradesh, was built by Mughal emperor Babur, according to documents produced by Muslim groups in court.
1949 – Muslim groups accuse government officials of conniving with Hindu monks to place an idol of an infant Lord Ram in the grounds of the mosque.
1950 – A first suit is filed in a court near Ayodhya, seeking permission to worship the idol of Lord Ram.
1986 – A court orders locks to be opened at the disputed site and that Hindus be allowed to pray there.
1992 – Thousands of Hindu activists, led by politicians of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tear down the mosque.
1992-93 – Hindu-Muslim riots erupt across northern and western India. Rights group estimate more than 2,000 people were killed.
2010 – A three-judge bench of the Allahabad high court in Uttar Pradesh ruled that the site of the mosque should be divided into three parts between the three main parties in the case.
2011 – The Supreme Court stays the high court’s order
2019 – A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India begins day-to-day hearings to resolve the case.
Nov. 9, 2019 – The Supreme Court is set to its give final verdict.
Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Rupam Jain, Robert Birsel