New Delhi: India awaits its historic judgement over the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid land dispute today.
This is the second lengthiest case in the history of apex court. Here is the timeline of the case:
1528: Mughal emperor Babur’s commander Mir Baqi built the Babri Mosque.
1885: A petition was filed in the Faizabad District Court by Mahant Raghubir Das, seeking permission to raise a structure next to the mosque. But the plea got rejected.
1949: Some unknown people found the idol of Lord Ram and Sita Devi inside the mosque and Hindus started offering prayers.
1950: Gopal Simla Visharad and Paramhansa Ramachandra Das filed two suits in a Faizabad Court that sought permission to worship the idols in the mosque.
1959: Nirmohi Akhara files suit in the Supreme Court seeking possession of the site.
1981: Another organisation Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board files suit for possession of the site and removal of idols from the mosque.
1986: A local court grants permission to open the site and allows Hindus to offer prayers.
1989: The Allahabad High Court orders status quo on the site. The Rajiv Gandhi government at the Centre lets Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) perform shilanyaas for Ram Temple.
1990: BJP senior leader LK Advani commenced Rath Yathra from Gujarat to gather support for the temple.
1992: The karsewaks demolished the disputed structure.
1993: The Central government passes an Act to acquire land in and around the disputed site in Ayodhya.
1994: The Supreme Court rules that the mosque is not integral to Islam in the Ismail Farugui case.
2002: The hearing starts at the Allahabad High Court.
2003: The Supreme Court dismisses any religious activity at the site.
2010: The Allahabad High Court rules trifurcation of the 2.77 -acre disputed land between UP Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla Virajman.
2011: The Supreme Court stays the High Court Order.
2016: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy files plea in the Supreme Court seeking permission to worship and construct Ram Temple at the disputed land.
2018: The SC rejects all interim pleas. Advocate Rajeev Dhavan files plea in the court requesting it to refer the issue of reconsideration of its 1994 judgement to a larger bench which is denied. The court forms a three-bench judge to hear the case.
January 2019: A five-judge Constitutional Bench is constituted by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to hear the case .
March 2019: A mediation panel was appointed by the SC headed by Judge (retd) FMI Kallifulla for an out-of-court settlement.
August 2019: But the mediation panel fails to reach with a conclusion and thereafter the SC begins hearing on August 6.
October 2019: After a 40 days marathon hearing the case on a day-to-day basis, the court reserves its order on October 15.
