The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, while hearing the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid demolition case, deferred the commencement of final hearing in the Ayodhya title dispute to 8th February 2018. The apex court also instructed all the advocates appearing for all the parties to ‘work in harmony and see that all the relevant documents are ready and filed’, after counsel for Sunni Waqf Board, Kapil Sibal submitted that some exhibits and documents pertaining to the title suit have not be filed and served by the parties. Earlier in the day, the top court began the final hearing in the Babri Masjid-Ram temple dispute case , a day before the 25th anniversary of the mosque’s demolition in Ayodhya. A special bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, justice Ashok Bhushan and justice S Abdul Nazeer assembled at 2pm on Tuesday to hear a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad high court in four civil suits.
The history of the Ayodhya conflict dates back to 1853. This was the time when the two groups of Hindus and Muslims fought over the site of worship. But on January 29, 1885, the first lawsuit was filed when the Mahant of Janmasthan, Raghubar Das, filed a suit against the Secretary of State for India in Council to build a temple at the Ram Chabutara spot. After independence, the first lawsuit was filed in 1949, and then again in 1959 by the Nirmohi Akhara laying claim to the disputed site. A couple of years later, the Uttar Pradesh Waqf board filed a litigation asking for the possession of Babri mosque in 1961
BJP president Amit Shah accused the Congress of adopting “double standards”, saying on one hand Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is on “election tour of temples (mandir ka chunavi daura) in Gujarat, while on the other his party wants the hearing on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute to be deferred.