Justice (retired) Sudhir Agarwal, a member of the Allahabad High Court bench that rendered a pivotal decision in the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid title suit in 2010, has stated that he was under pressure not to do so. Furthermore, he mentioned that had it not been for their ruling, there would not have been an outcome in the case for the next two centuries. Justice Agarwal retired from the high court on April 23, 2020.
“After delivering the judgment I felt blessed. There was pressure on me to postpone the judgment in the case. There was pressure from within the home and also from outside. Family members and relatives used to suggest to somehow pass time and not deliver the judgment,” he remarked while speaking with media after an event in Meerut.
He added, “Had the judgment not been delivered on September 30, 2010, in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, there would not have been any judgement in this matter for the next 200 years.”
On September 30, 2010, the Allahabad high court pronounced its judgement with a majority decision of 2:1. The verdict said that the 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya would be divided equally among three parties, the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara, and Ram Lalla (infant) represented by the Hindu Mahasabha. Sibhghat Ullah Khan, Sudhir Agarwal, and D V Sharma served as the judges on the bench. Justice Khan had a dissenting opinion from the other two Justices.
However, on 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court in a momentous judgement pronounced that Ram Mandir (temple) would be constructed on the disputed land in Ayodhya and directed the government to provide Muslim litigants with a substitute five-acre tract in Dhannipur for a mosque putting an end to the conflict that had been festering since centuries.
Babri Masjid (Mosque) was constructed at Lord Ram’s birthplace by Mir Baqi, a general of the Mughal emperor Babur in 1528–29 on the latter’s orders after destroying the temple. The mosque was eventually demolished on 6 December 1992 by a large group of Hindu activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and allied organisations.
Since the 18th century, Hindus were fighting for the right to reclaim their land and rebuild a Ram temple there. However, following the supreme court’s decision the Bhumi Pujan ritual of the temple was performed on 5 August 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after which the construction started and it will be inaugurated on January 1, 2024.
