An Indian court has implicitly legitimized the demolition of the sixteenth century Babri Masjid in north Indian town of Ayodhya by an unruly mop of Hindu communalists in 1992, and has awarded two-thirds of the mosque land to Hindus to build temples thereon.

The ruling in one of the longest litigation between the representatives of Muslim and Hindu bodies each claiming the land as their holy site, was handed over on September 30 by the Lucknow bunch of the Allahabad High Court.

The case arose as a result of demolition of the old mosque by bands of Hindu hooligans led by the communalist Bharatiya Janta Party leaders in 1992, which caused bloody riots between protesting Muslims and jubilant Hindu mobs resulting in 2000 deaths government supported and thousands of other casualties in Mumbai and many other cities of India. The majority of those killed were Muslims.

The Babri mosque was built in Ajodhya in 1528 by a governor of Moghul Emperor Babar. The founder of the Moghul Empire in India. But some Hindus allege that the temple had been erected over their sacred site, the birth place of their God King Rama. There is no historical proof of this claim. Even Hindu historians are unable to produce any evidence of this claim, while most other historians regard Rama as a mystical figure of the Hindu mythology.

However, what is to be noted is that when the temple was built the Hindus of the time never raised any objection to the selection of the site.

The Moghul rulers were known for their benign rule and their cordiality towards Hindus. Such a sacrilege as building a mosque named after the founder of the dynasty, over a Hindu temple is unthinkable.

Moreover no protest or objection was lodged at the time from any quarter to the location of the mosque.

It was three hundred later during the British rule that some Hindus pampered by the new rulers came out with the theory raising dispute over the site. Nevertheless, there being no convincing proof, the mosque was not touched. But after the British left and the Hindu majority got into power in India, extremist Hindus raised the issue and in 1992 when the Hindu extremist party, BTP, was in power in the stable a countrywide march was organised to the place; armed Hindu zealots in thousands raided the mosque and demolished it while the government leaders watched the mosque being torn down but did not stop the miscreants.

Muslims throughout India and even in other countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh protested against the outrage.

In India when Muslims came out in the streets in protest, they were attacked by Hindus and bloody riots broke out.

Later, the matter was taken before the counts. After years of proceedings, the Lucknow Bunch of India's Allahabad High Court came out with the verdict on September 30, dividing the mosque land between Hindus and Muslim allowing tow groups of Hindu to protect temples on two-thirds of the land leaving one third to the Muslims.

The verdict obviously influenced by extremist Hindu lobby disappointed the Muslim community in that it ruled without any capable evidence accepting the extremist Hindus' plea and punishing no one for demolishing a Muslim mosque. The court in its 200-page judgment ruled that the site of the mosque would be split between two Hindu groups and one Muslim group, the judges said.

The ordered that status quo at the religious compound in Ayodhya at the centre of the dispute - currently under state control - would be maintained for three months.

Lawyers representing the Muslim claimants said they were "partly disappointed" and that they would appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.

The opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which fanned the Ayodhya issue into a national flashpoint, interpreted the ruling as a victory in its campaign to build a temple to Ram where the mosque once stood.

"The Allahabad High Court verdict is a significant step towards building of a grand temple," top BJP leader L.K. Advani told reporters after a party meeting.

But many Muslims reacted with dismay. Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Imam of New Delhi's Jama Masjid, denounced the judgment, saying the court had ruled "on the basis of blind faith and not by evidence and documentation provided to the judges". "We are definitely not happy with the ruling," he said. "We are not giving up our claim (to rebuild) the Babri mosque," he said.

Historian Irfan Habib said the ruling was crucial for finally putting a "judicial stamp" on an issue that had long been the preserve of religions ideologues.

The Muslims are generally disappointed by the judgment. They fear that now more historical mosques would be demolished by Hindu extremists. Some of the Hindu extremists have already drawn a list of 250 mosques which, they claim, were illicit on temples lands during Muslim rule.

Minorities in India are apprehensive that the places of worship of other religions are also similarly threatened by Hindu extremists. The latter have in recent years attacked and burnt many Christian Churches.

Traditional Muslim circles were of the view that it would be impossible for the faithful to pray in the mosque with temple bells telling on the other side of the mosque.

There is no example of a mosque situated next to a temple on vice versa. They say the judgment has not taken into account to fundamental rights of the people regarding religious freedom and sanctity of places of worship. However, secular minded Muslim had a sigh of relief over the resolution of the old dispute which vitiated the feelings between the Muslim minority and Hindu majority in India.

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