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The Supreme Court of India has again adjourned the plea challenging a trial court's order to drop charges of criminal conspiracy against senior ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leaders for their involvement in the demolition of the centuries-old Babri Mosque in 1992.
The case will come up for hearing in the court in the capital, New Delhi, on April 6.
BJP leaders, including L. K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been charged with conspiracy by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.
The dispute over the site of the destroyed Babri mosque in the ancient city of Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state is a decades-old issue between Hindus and Muslims of India, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people over the years.
In December 1992, Hindus gathered at the disputed site and destroyed the 16th-century mosque named after the Mughal dynasty Emperor, Babur. The destruction prompted nationwide communal riots that left around 2,000 people dead.
Since then, Muslims have been calling for a new mosque at the same place, while Hindus have been demanding a temple on the site, claiming their most revered god, Lord Ram, was born there.
The case over the dispute has been languishing in India's legal system for years without any final outcome.
- Chronology of legal wrangling
The destroyed Babri Mosque is said to have been built by Babur in 1526.
The Mughals had ruled India from 16th century until the middle of the 18th century.
In 1885, a Hindu religious body filed a case in Faizabad court asking for permission to construct a temple to honor Ram inside the premises of the Babri Mosque.
However, the permission was denied on grounds that the petitioners had failed to substantiate their claim the mosque was built by Muslims after demolishing a Hindu temple.
In 1949, a group of Hindus entered the premises of the mosque and installed an idol of Ram there. The idol was not removed and it was locked by the administration. However, an official and a Hindu priest were given charge to look after the place.
The battle over the place of worship resurfaced again in 1985, when a group of Hindu zealots demanded the site to be handed over to them.
In 1986, the district administration of Faizabad under which Ayodhya city comes opened the premises to Hindus, allowing them to carry out their rituals.
The situation remained calm until December 1992, when thousands of activists belonging to extremist Hindu groups and political parties along with ruling BJP leaders Advani, Joshi and others entered Babri and demolished it.
The situation inflamed the sentiments of India's minority Muslim community and culminated in one of the largest Hindu-Muslim riots in the country, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.
After the demolition of the mosque, two police reports -- First Information Reports -- were filed in two different northern cities, one in Lucknow and the other in Raebareli.
The Lucknow report concerned the actual demolition of the mosque, while the other named BJP leaders for their alleged hate speech delivered at the site in 1992.
The CBI took over both cases and filed a single chargesheet, alleging that BJP leaders were responsible for plotting the mosque's demolition.
Later, a local court quashed the conspiracy charges against BJP leaders over a technicality. The CBI, however, appealed the decision at the Allahabad High Court, which upheld the lower court's order, but allowed the agency to prosecute the accused under other charges in Raebareli.
The CBI then appealed the high court's ruling to the Supreme Court.
In September 2010, the Allahabad High Court ruled that two-thirds of the disputed site would be handed over to Hindu groups, while the remaining area would be given to Muslims.
The court, which had two Hindu judges in the three-member panel, also sided with the claim that the site was the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram, and a mosque was built over a demolished temple, an act considered against Islamic tenets.
The Muslim judge in the same judicial panel had contested the claim and said that no such temple was destroyed to build the mosque.
Hindu and Muslim groups both approached the Supreme Court after the ruling.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India suggested to Hindu and Muslim groups to settle the dispute through negotiations.
The ruling BJP had welcomed the Supreme Court's advice, calling it the best way to resolve the dispute.
Uttar Pradesh's newly-appointed Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi also welcomed the court's suggestion. We shall make every possible effort to solve the dispute through negotiations, he said.
Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said the BJP government was in power, both at the centre and in Uttar Pradesh state, so every obstacle in the path of building the Ram temple would be removed.
Fundamentalist Hindu outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Dattatreya Hosbole said they favored an out-of-court settlement.
Ahmad Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Mosque also appreciated the Supreme Court's suggestion. However, All India Babri Masjid Action Committee Convener Zafaryab Jilani said all previous attempts for an out-of-court settlement had resulted in failure. -
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