Babri Masjid or Ram Janmabhoomi? Verdict on Sep 30

The Special Bench of the Allahabad high court will pronounce the verdict on the Ayodhya title suit at 3.30 pm on Thursday, September 30.

SQR Ilyas, convener of the Babri Masjid Action committee, told Rediff.com, "The verdict will be declared on Thursday at 3:30 pm."

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the plea to defer the verdict on the Ayodhya title suit by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.

Reportage: Vicky Nanjappa

The long pending case is about the ownership of the Ayodhya land to which Hindus and Muslims had been making rival claims over the past one and a quarter century.

While Hindus claimed the land to be the site of the birthplace of their most revered Lord Ram, Muslims asserted their right over the same as the site of a 16th century mosque, claimed to have been built by Mughal emperor Babur in the ancient town of Ayodhya, about 120 km from Lucknow.

The Babri Masjid at the site was razed on December 6, 1992, by karsevaks and right-wing extremists who claimed that it was the Ram Janmabhoomi site. The Babri Masjid demolition had triggered massive communal riots across India

Prashanth Chandra, senior counsel for Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, who argued the case before the high court, told rediff.com that all attempts to settle the matter out of court have come to an end with the verdict of the Supreme Court.

"There is nothing more we can do now in this case and we too will wait for the verdict of the high court. We hope that the people will maintain calm and realise that the verdict of the high court is not the final one, since one of the aggrieved parties is sure to move the Supreme Court after this verdict," he said.

Meanwhile, the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the tightest security when the verdict is pronounced. The Allahabad high court has turned into a fortress with the deployment of 140 sub inspectors, 800 constables, 200 reserve police force and 104 head constables.