Ayodhya verdict today: Timeline of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Thursday its verdict on a batch of pleas by Muslim groups on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute seeking reconsideration by a larger bench, the observations made by it in a 1994 verdict that a mosque was not integral to Islam.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer will pronounce the verdict, which had reserved it on July 20.

M Siddiq, one of the original litigants of the Ayodhya case who has died and is being represented through his legal heir, had assailed certain findings of the 1994 verdict in the case of M Ismail Faruqui holding that a mosque was not integral to the prayers offered by the followers of Islam. 

It was argued by the Muslim groups before a special bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer that the "sweeping" observation of the apex court in the verdict needed to be reconsidered by a five-judge bench as "it had and will have a bearing" on the Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case.

So, here is a timeline chronicling one of the most contentious issues of India's history:

1528: Mir Baki, a noble under Mughal emperor Babur, builds a mosque, which Hindu hardliners claim was built on a temple marking the birthplace of Rama in Ayodhya.

1857: A Hindu Priest takes over part of the shrine compound and builds an altar for worship.

1859: The British build a wall to separate the places of worship within the compound.

1885: The dispute is dragged to court for the first time when Mahant Raghubar Das files a suit in a Faizabad court seeking permission to build a Ram temple adjoining the Babri mosque.

December 22, 1949: Idols of Ram Lalla are allegedly installed inside the Babri mosque at night by a group of Hindus following which a court rules that the site be locked.

1950: Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das and Gopal Singh Visharad file suits in Faizabad, asking for permission to pray before the installed idols. The puja is allowed though the inner courtyard gates remain locked.

1961: Sunni Central Board of Waqfs in Uttar Pradesh files a case claiming the mosque, and says the surrounding area was a graveyard.

1984: VHP forms a committee to ‘liberate’ the birthplace of Ram and build a temple. BJP leader L K Advani, takes over leadership of the campaign

February 1, 1986: Faizabad district judge orders the gates of disputed shrine be opened to Hindus for worship. Babri Masjid Action Committee formed shortly thereafter.

November 9, 1989: PM Rajiv Gandhi allows shilanyas or groundbreaking ceremony at an undisputed site.

October 30, 1990: Thousands of kar sevaks move to the disputed site to demolish the disputed structure. CM Mulayam Singh Yadav orders firing, killing many.

1991: BJP comes to power in UP.

December 6, 1992: Tens of thousands of kar sevaks demolish the disputed structure. The incident triggers widespread communal riots in the country, killing hundreds.

December 16, 1992: The Narasimha Rao government sets up Liberhan Commission to probe the circumstances that led to the demolition.

February 2002: BJP rules out committing itself to the construction of a temple in its UP assembly election manifesto. VHP confirms deadline of 15 March to begin construction. Hundreds of volunteers converge on site. 

February 27, 2002: At least 58 people are killed in an attack on a train in Godhra which is carrying Hindu activists returning from Ayodhya.

April 2002: Three High Court judges begin hearings on determining who owns the religious site.

January 2003: Archaeologists begin a court-ordered survey to find out whether a Ram temple existed on the site.

March-August 2003: Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) begins excavation and claims to have found an evidence of a temple. Muslims dispute the findings.

September 2003: A court rules that seven Hindu leaders should stand trial for inciting the mosque demolition.

October 2004: Advani reiterates the BJP's "unwavering" commitment to building a temple at Ayodhya.

July 5, 2005: The heavily guarded site at Ayodhya attacked by LeT terrorists. The attack foiled by security officials and the attackers killed.

June 30, 2009: Justice MS Liberhan submits his report after 17 years and 48 extensions.

November 24, 2009: The Centre’s Action-Taken Report (ATR) tabled in Parliament does not recommend any punitive action against any of the 68 persons held culpable by justice MS Liberhan in the Babri Masjid demolition case. 

February 18, 2010: BJP President Nitin Gadkari offers to rebuild the Babri Masjid at a spot away from the disputed site at the party’s National Council meeting.

September 30, 2010: The three-judge Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court rules that disputed site belongs jointly to Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara. The place where the idol of Ram Lalla is currently housed in a makeshift temple under the main dome of the Babri mosque will be given to Hindus.

December 14, 2010: The Sunni Central Waqf Board files a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the SC challenging the Allahabad HC verdict and rules out any compromise.

February 19, 2011: CBI moves SC against Allahabad HC order which erroneously dropped charges of criminal conspiracy against LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the Babri demolition case

May 9, 2011: Calling it a "strange and surprising order", SC stays the Allahabad High Court (HC) verdict saying that none of the parties had demanded the partition of the land.

November 18, 2016: SC agrees to have an urgent hearing of a plea made by Subramanian Swamy regarding the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

March 21, 2017: SC calls upon the stakeholders to settle the matter out of court. CJI JS Khehar offers to mediate for a negotiated settlement of the long-pending issue. 

March 23, 2017: A Supreme Court Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Rohinton Nariman posted for detailed hearing the CBI appeal against the dropping of the criminal conspiracy charge against veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani and other top party leaders after two weeks.

April 6, 2017: The Supreme Court indicated that it will use its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to transfer the Babri Masjid demolition related trial in Rae Bareilly against top BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to Lucknow, where a CBI court is hearing conspiracy and other serious criminal charges against "lakhs of unknown kar sevaks" for the actual act of razing down the 15th century mosque.

April 19, 2017: The Supreme Court revived conspiracy charges against LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and 13 others in the 25-year-old Babri Masjid demolition cases.

December 5, 2017: The Supreme Court sets date to hear bench of civil appeals filed by political parties challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict on 2010 in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case for February, 2019.

May 2, 2018: The Supreme Court refused to give an urgent hearing to a mentioning by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, seeking a direction to perform puja at the disputed site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

September 27, 2018: The Supreme Court is set to pronounce on its verdict on a batch of pleas by Muslim groups on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute seeking reconsideration by a larger bench, the observations made by it in a 1994 verdict that a mosque was not integral to Islam.

(With agency inputs)