Temple At Disputed Site, Mosque Within Ayodhya, Rules SC

■ Centre told to set up trust to manage the property and build Ram temple ■ Sunni Central Waqf Board should be given a five-acre plot for mosque ■ Babri Masjid demolition was “an egregious violation of the rule of law” ■ All forms of belief, worship and prayer are equal, says Bench

- Krishnadas Rajagopal

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Saturday permitted the construction of a temple at the site where the Babri Masjid once stood, and asked the government to allot a “prominent and suitable” five-acre plot for Muslims to construct a mosque in Ayodhya.

In a unanimous judgment, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked the Centre, which had acquired the entire 67.73 acres of land including the 2.77 acres of the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid premises in 1993, to formulate a scheme within three months and set up a trust to manage the property and construct a temple. For the time being, the possession of the disputed property would continue to vest with the Centre until a notification is issued by it investing the property in the trust.

Prominent place

The Bench also directed that the Sunni Central Waqf Board should be given a five-acre plot, either by the Centre from within its acquired area, or by the Uttar Pradesh government “at a suitable, prominent place in Ayodhya”. The Board would be at liberty to construct a mosque there. This should be done simultaneously with the transfer of the property to the proposed trust.

The judges declared that the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was “an egregious violation of the rule of law” and “a calculated act of destroying a place of public worship”. The Muslims have been wrongly deprived of a mosque which had been constructed well over 450 years ago, the Bench said.