The disputed land in Ayodhya belongs entirely to the deity Ram Lalla or infant Lord Ram, the Supreme Court said today in a landmark verdict that paves the way for a temple at the site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims for decades. A five-judge constitution bench also ruled that a "prominent site" in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh will be allotted for a new mosque. Noting that it had been tasked with the resolution of a dispute "whose origins were as old as the idea of India itself", the court called the razing of the 16th century Babri mosque at the disputed site by Hindu activists in 1992 unlawful. The Ayodhya dispute has gripped the nation for decades and dominated its politics.
