NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 9, 2019 (NDTV): The Supreme Court today ruled in a unanimous verdict that the disputed land in Ayodhya belongs entirely to the Deity Ram Lalla or infant Lord Ram, paving the way for the construction of a temple. The court also ordered that a five-acre plot at a prominent site in Ayodhya would be given to Muslims to build a new mosque. On the disputed site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims for decades, the court said “…on a balance of probabilities, the evidence in respect of the possessory claim of the Hindus to the composite whole of the disputed property stands on a better footing than the evidence adduced by the Muslim.”
The Hindus, said the Supreme Court, “have established a clear case of a possessory title to the outside courtyard by virtue of long, continued and unimpeded worship at the Ramchabutra and other objects of religious significance.” The court said: “on the balance of probabilities, there is clear evidence to indicate that the worship by the Hindus in the outer courtyard continued unimpeded in spite of the setting up of a grill-brick wall in 1857. Their possession of the outer courtyard stands established together with the incidents attaching to their control over it.” On the inner courtyard, said the court, “there is evidence on a preponderance of probabilities to establish worship by the Hindus prior to the annexation of Oudh by the British in 1857. The Muslims have offered no evidence to indicate that they were in exclusive possession of the inner structure prior to 1857 since the date of the construction in the sixteenth century.”