Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case LIVE: Supreme Court begins final hearing

A special bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer is hearing the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case today at the Supreme Court.

Here are the live updates of the hearing: 

• Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal reads out the details of exhibits filed by the contesting defendants before the Allahabad High Court. He says that all these exhibits are not filled before this court.
• Kapil Sibal is appearing for Sunni Waqf Board and has said 'pleadings are not complete'.

After the Allahabad High Court ruled the disputed land in Ayodhya will be divided into three parts, 13 appeals were filed in the Supreme Court against the order. In 2010, the Allahabad High Court directed that 2.77 acres land will be divided between Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara.

What is the long-standing Ayodhya/Ram Mandir dispute all about?

It boils down to a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The site that is regarded among Hindus as the birthplace of Lord Rama also historically locates Babri Mosque. Now whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque is a question.

The conflict of history

According to the Hindus, the land on which the Babri mosque was built in 1528 is the 'Ram Janmabhoomi' (birthplace of the god-king Rama). But, Mir Baqi, one of Mughal king Babur's generals, is said to have destroyed a pre-existing temple of Rama and built a mosque called Babri Masjid (Babur's mosque) at the site.

Both the communities have worshiped at the "mosque-temple", Muslims inside the mosque and Hindus outside it. However, in 1885 a petition was filed by the the head of the Nirmohi Akhara asking for permission to offer prayers to Ram Lalla inside what was known as the Babri Masjid.

The permission was not given but in 1886, district Judge of Faizabad court FEA Chamier gave his verdict and said, "It is most unfortunate that a masjid should have been built on land specially held sacred by the Hindus, but as that event occurred 356 years ago, it is too late now to remedy the grievance."

It was in 1950 that a local resident Gopal Singh Visharad filed a complaint in the civil courts requesting permission to offer prayers in the mosque where the idols were installed.

Then in December 1992, hundreds of right wing activists destroyed the 16th-century Barbi mosque. What followed was riots and communal violence across the country.