Spl.Photos: Ayodhya from 1528 to 2010
 

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The disputed Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri mosque site has been contentious for over a hundred years now.

The property dispute, or the title suit, went to court in 1949, soon after the idols of Ram and Sita were placed there. Today, the Supreme Court will decide whether the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court should pronounce verdict in the 60-year-old case just yet.

Chief Justice of India, SH Kapadia, along with Justice Aftab Alam and Justice KS Radhakrishnan will decide on petitioner Ramesh Chandra Tripathi's plea to defer the verdict.

The High Court bench is to decide who the land belongs to and what stood here first, a temple or a mosque. One side in the legal battle claims that this has been a mosque for 400 years. The other side says an ancient temple was demolished to build that mosque. They say this is the birthplace of Lord Ram.

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1528: The Babri Masjid was built in Ayodhya in 1528. Hindu groups claim it was built after demolishing a temple.

1853: The first recorded communal clashes over the site date back to this year.

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1859: The colonial British administration put a fence around the site, denominating separate areas of worship for Hindus and Muslims. And that is the way it stood for about 90 years.

1949: In December of that year, idols were put inside the mosque. Both sides to the dispute filed civil suits. The government locked the gates, saying the matter was sub-judice and declared the area “disputed”.

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1984: The movement to build a temple at the site, which Hindus claimed was the birthplace of Lord Ram, gathered momentum when Hindu groups formed a committee to spearhead the construction of a temple at the Ramjanmabhoomi site.

1986: A district judge ordered the gates of the mosque to be opened after almost five decades and allowed Hindus to worship inside the “disputed structure.” 1986: A Babri Mosque Action Committee was formed as Muslims protested the move to allow Hindu prayers at the site.

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1989: The clamour for building a Ram temple was growing. Fronted by organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, foundations of a temple were laid on land adjacent to the "disputed structure."

1990: The then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani took out a cross-country rathyatra to garner support for the move to build a Ram temple at the site. VHP volunteers partially damaged the Babri mosque. Prime Minister Chandrashekhar intervened and tried to negotiate with the various groups. But talks failed.