Disputed Ayodhya land will be shared by three

LUCKNOW - Two of the three judges of the Allahabad High Court Thursday held that the disputed land in Ayodhya would be divided into three parts - one for the Hindus, one for the Muslims and one for the Nirmohi Akhara, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Prasad, who represented one of the litigant in the case, said the court said that the idol of Ram Lalla will continue to remain at its present place in the disputed structure at Ayodhya.

Talking to reporters after the verdict was delivered by the high court on the title suits relating to the dispute, Prasad said that the court held the place where idol was located as dev-tulay” (sacred).

Prasad, who is lawyer for litigant Raghubar Das, said two judges on the high court bench - Justices S.U. Khan and Justice Sudhir Agarwal - said the land should be divided into three parts.

The bench, which also included Justice D.V. Sharma, was unanimous in accepting that the idol of Lord Ram could not be removed from the place where it is positioned at present, Prasad said.

He said the bench decided by a majority that the site where a makeshift Ram Lalla shrine exists is where Hindu god Ram was born.

Prasad said that the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf Board had the right to appeal in a higher court but it was his earnest appeal that the minority community should accept the verdict.

Pointing out that he was speaking as an individual and not as a BJP leader, Prasad appealed to the Muslim community to contribute in building a grand temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.

It will help spread a new brotherhood, he said.