The dispute centers on who should control the land on which the ruins of the 16th-century Babri Mosque are located.
The Supreme Court of India ruled on Saturday in favor of a Hindu group in a long-standing legal battle over a centuries-old religious site also claimed by Muslims, in a trial that paves the way for the construction of a Hindu temple in the place. .
The higher court also ordered that an alternative plot of land be provided to a Muslim group.
The dispute centers on who should control the land on which the ruins of the 16th-century Babri mosque, destroyed by a Hindu mafia in 1992, lie.
Below is a chronology of the events that have shaped the case:
1528
The mosque in Ayodhya, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, was built by Mughal emperor Babur, according to documents produced by Muslim groups in court.
1949
Muslim groups accuse government officials of conspiring with Hindu monks to place an idol of a Lord Ram child on the grounds of the mosque.
1950
A first lawsuit is filed in a court near Ayodhya, seeking permission to worship the idol of Lord Ram.
1986
A court orders that locks be opened on the site in dispute and that the Hindus be allowed to pray there.
1992
Thousands of Hindu activists, led by politicians of the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata (BJP), tear down the mosque.
1992-93
Hindu and Muslim riots erupt in northern and western India. The rights group estimates that more than 2,000 people were killed.
2010
A bank of three judges of the upper court of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh ruled that the site of the mosque should be divided into three parts among the three main parts of the case.
2011
The Supreme Court maintains the order of the superior court.
2019
A bank of five judges of the Supreme Court of India begins daily hearings to resolve the case. On November 9, the court rules in favor of the Hindus. The ruling paves the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site in the northern city of Ayodhya, a proposal long supported by the ruling Hindu-nationalist party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1515834/ayodhya-dispute-a-timeline-of-events-that-shaped-the-decades-old-case