Court orders formation of a trust that will construct temple for Lord Ram while Muslims will be given alternative land.
By Al Jazeera
India’s Supreme Court has awarded Hindus control of a disputed religious site in the town of Ayodhya for the construction of a temple, in a landmark verdict announced amid heightened security across the country.
Muslims will be given five acres of land at an alternative site in Ayodhya, in northern Uttar Pradesh state, the top court ruled on Saturday.
In a unanimous decision over the site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, the five-judge bench asked the government to set up a trust that will construct a temple for Hindu deity Ram.
“The judgement is not satisfactory but we respect it. We will have discussions and then decide further course of action,” Zafaryab Jilani, Sunni Waqf Board lawyer, was quoted as saying by NDTV news channel.
Faizan Mustafa, vice-chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, termed the verdict “controversial”.
“The judges tried their best to have a kind of a balance but ultimately it’s the mystery of the faith over rule of law, because they [judges] said that we can’t be doing anything about the Hindu belief and if they believe that Ram was born here … we have to accept it,” he said.
“Belief is good for the purposes of religion, but can it become a basis to resolve property disputes?”
This story was originally published in aljazeera.com. Read the full story here .