Ayodhya: On 5th day of hearing, arguments in SC on whether temple existed on disputed site

Arguments on whether a temple existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya were presented on Tuesday before the Supreme Court which heard the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case for the fifth day.

Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for deity Ram Lalla Virajman, advanced arguments on whether there was an existing temple over which the mosque came up, before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Three judges of the Allahabad High Court had held that there was a temple at the disputed site, Vaidyanathan told the bench also comprising Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

"Justice SU Khan of the high court had said that the mosque was built on the ruins of the temple," the senior advocate told the bench.

Senior advocate K Parasaran, also appearing for deity 'Ram Lalla Virajman' told the court that it must do "full and complete justice" in all matters before it.

The bench had on Friday last asked as to whether anyone from the 'Raghuvansha' (descendants of Lord Ram) dynasty still resides in Ayodhya.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On December 6, 1992, the Babri Masjid, which was constructed at the disputed site in the 16th century by Shia Muslim Mir Baqi, was demolished.