Tracing Ayodhya Timeline: More Than Three Decades After Babri Masjid Demolition

Ayodhya starkly remembers December 6, 1992, a day when the Babri Masjid was demolished, sparking decades of legal battles and political mobilisation over the disputed site. More than three decades later, the Supreme Court verdict in 2019 and the 2020 foundation-laying ceremony of the Ram temple, marked important junctures in the long-running dispute.

In 1529, Mir Baqi, Mughal Emperor Babar's commander, constructed the Babri Masjid. More than three centuries later, the first contest arrived in 1885, when Mahant Raghubir Das approached the Faizabad District Magistrate (DM) seeking permission to build a temple on land next to the mosque. The DM refused, leading Raghubir Das to file a title suit before the Faizabad Court, asking to build a temple on the chabutra in the mosque’s courtyard. The Court had rejected his request.

Outlook traces the timeline of the contested site and its complex history.

December 1949: In December, when a Ram idol appeared inside the mosque, many Hindus treated the appearance as a divine sign and began offering prayers while others argued that the idol had been placed there secretly. The government declared the premises a “contested area” and had locked the entrance.

1950-1961: Two suits filed by Gopal Singh Visharad and Paramhansa Ramachandra Das sought permission to perform puja to Ram Lalla. The Faizabad Court allowed the pujas but ordered that the inner courtyard gates would remain locked. In 1959, the Nirmohi Akhara filed a separate suit seeking possession of the land and two years later, in 1961, the UP Sunni Waqf Board filed its own suit, seeking possession of the mosque site and the removal of the idols.

1984-1986: By then, the issue had become part of a wider political campaign. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad formed a group to lead what became the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, with BJP leader L. K. Advani steering the programme. The next major turning point came on February 1, 1986, when lawyer U. C. Pandey moved the Faizabad Sessions Court, arguing that the gates had been locked on administrative orders rather than by court direction. The District Judge ordered the locks removed, allowing Hindu “pooja and darshan”. Muslims responded by forming the Babri Mosque Action Committee.

November 9, 1989: In November, the VHP carried out a shilanayas, a foundation-laying ceremony, near the disputed site with the permission of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. That year, all title suits were transferred to the Allahabad High Court, and another suit was filed in the name of Ram Lalla Virajman, naming the parties from the 1959 and 1961 suits as defendants.

September 25, 1990: In September, Advani’s Rath Yatra began travelling from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and sparking communal violence along the way.

December 6, 1992: In December, A crowd of karsevaks demolished the Babri Masjid and left behind a makeshift temple. Ten days later, the government set up the Liberhan Commission, led by former High Court judge M. S. Liberhan, to investigate the demolition and the riots that followed. It was initially asked to submit its findings within three months.

1993-1994: The Narasimha Rao government issued an ordinance acquiring 67.7 acres of land in and around the site. This later became law through the Acquisition of Certain Areas at Ayodhya Act, 1993. The Supreme Court examined the Act in the 1994 Ismail Faruqui case, and by a 3:2 majority upheld its constitutionality.

The majority, led by former Chief Justice J. S. Verma, held that religious immovable property could be acquired by the state and stated that offering namaz in a mosque was not integral to Islam unless the mosque had particular significance. The judgment drew criticism for treating a mosque as non-essential. No review petitions were filed then.

2002-2003: Hearings in the title dispute again began before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. The following year, between March and August 2003, the Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site at the court’s direction and claimed to have discovered remains of a tenth-century Hindu temple. Muslim parties questioned the findings.

June 2009: In June, after 17 years, the Liberhan Commission submitted its report and later in 2010, the Allahabad High Court delivered its judgment, dividing the land between the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla Virajman. The disputed land was effectively split in a 2:1 ratio between Muslim and Hindu litigants. The dome under which the makeshift temple stood went to the Hindus. The Ram Chabutra and Sita Rasoi were allotted to the Nirmohi Akhara, and the outer courtyard was given to the Sunni Waqf Board.

May 2011: In May, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court ruling, wherein Justices Aftab Alam and R.M. Lodha described the decision as “strange”, noting that the High Court had issued a partition decree even though no party had sought one.

2017-2018: Chief Justice J. S. Khehar therein suggested that the parties attempt an out-of-court settlement. A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, Dipak Misra, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, began hearing the matter in August 2017. The petitioners argued in early 2018 that the Ismail Faruqui judgment should be reconsidered by a seven-judge Bench. The Supreme Court reserved its order in July 2018 and, on September 27 2018, declined to refer the matter to a larger Bench in a 2:1 ruling.

2019: Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi used his administrative powers to place the case before a five-judge Constitution Bench, overturning the September 2018 decision. After two days of hearings, on March 8 2019, the Bench ordered court-monitored mediation, despite objections from some parties. The process was scheduled to run until mid-May 2019.

The Supreme Court extended the deadline on July 11 2019, allowing the panel to continue its attempts to negotiate a settlement. However, by early August, the mediators submitted a report stating that no consensus had been reached among the parties.

On August 6, 2019, the Constitution Bench began day-to-day hearings in the title dispute. The arguments continued for 40 days, making it one of the longest hearings in the Court’s recent history, and concluded on 16 October 2019, when the Bench reserved its judgment.

On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict, unanimously awarding the disputed land to Ram Lalla Virajman. The Court directed the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government to create a trust to manage the construction and future administration of a Ram temple on the site. It also ordered that five acres of alternative land in Ayodhya be allotted to the Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of a new mosque.

2020: The Union government announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, fulfilling the Court’s direction. The following months were spent on procedural decisions around the management of the site and the commencement of construction.

The foundation-laying ceremony for the Ram temple took place on August 5, 2020, with much pomp and show, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior members of the Trust and many public figures.

With this, construction formally began on the site where the Babri Masjid had stood until its demolition in 1992.

As of December 6, 2025, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir construction has been fully completed. On November 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted the saffron Dharma Dhwaj atop the temple’s spire, marking the formal completion of the Ram Mandir complex.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust confirmed that all main and auxiliary structures are now finished, signaling the culmination of more than three decades of legal, political, and construction milestones since the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid.