Indian court splits disputed holy site
Source: Agencies |
October 1, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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AN Indian court ruled yesterday that a disputed holy site that has sparked bloody communal riots across the country in the past should be divided between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
However, the court gave the Hindu community control over the section where the now-demolished Babri Mosque stood and where a small makeshift tent-shrine to the Hindu god Rama rests.
While both Muslim and Hindu lawyers vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court following the decision, the compromise ruling seemed unlikely to set off a new round of violence, as the government had feared.
Muslims revere the compound in Ayodhya as the former site of the 16th-century mosque, while Hindus say it is the birthplace of Rama and contend that a temple to the god stood on the site before the mosque.
The Allahabad High Court ruled that the 25-hectare site should be split, with the Muslim community getting control of one-third and two Hindu groups splitting the remainder. The Hindus will keep the area where the mosque once stood, according to the court judgment.
The court said archaeological evidence showed a temple had predated the mosque.
"The majority ruled that the location of the makeshift temple is the birthplace of Rama, and this spot cannot be shifted," said Ravi Shankar Prasad, a lawyer for one of the Hindu groups who sued.
The Babri Mosque, built in 1528 by the Mughal emperor Babur, was razed by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, setting off nationwide riots that killed 2,000 people.
Hindus want to build an enormous temple to Rama there, while Muslims want to rebuild the mosque. The ruling yesterday would almost certainly force both groups to scale down those plans.
However, the court gave the Hindu community control over the section where the now-demolished Babri Mosque stood and where a small makeshift tent-shrine to the Hindu god Rama rests.
While both Muslim and Hindu lawyers vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court following the decision, the compromise ruling seemed unlikely to set off a new round of violence, as the government had feared.
Muslims revere the compound in Ayodhya as the former site of the 16th-century mosque, while Hindus say it is the birthplace of Rama and contend that a temple to the god stood on the site before the mosque.
The Allahabad High Court ruled that the 25-hectare site should be split, with the Muslim community getting control of one-third and two Hindu groups splitting the remainder. The Hindus will keep the area where the mosque once stood, according to the court judgment.
The court said archaeological evidence showed a temple had predated the mosque.
"The majority ruled that the location of the makeshift temple is the birthplace of Rama, and this spot cannot be shifted," said Ravi Shankar Prasad, a lawyer for one of the Hindu groups who sued.
The Babri Mosque, built in 1528 by the Mughal emperor Babur, was razed by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, setting off nationwide riots that killed 2,000 people.
Hindus want to build an enormous temple to Rama there, while Muslims want to rebuild the mosque. The ruling yesterday would almost certainly force both groups to scale down those plans.
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