India’s Supreme Court delays ruling on Hindu-Muslim dispute

In a last-minute move, the Supreme Court agreed Thursday to delay a verdict involving a dispute between Muslims and Hindus over who has the right to a controversial religious site.

The verdict in the 60-year-old case, which involves contested land in Ayodyha in northern Uttar Pradesh state, was due Friday but was instead put off until at least Tuesday.

At issue in the contentious case is whether Muslims or Hindus own the land under the Babri Masjid mosque, built in 1528 and destroyed in late 1992 by a mob of extremist Hindus.

Shortly after the mosque was razed, communal violence broke out across India, leaving 2,000 people dead. Since then, the incident has become a rallying cry for Islamic fundamentalists in India, a nation with about 160 million Muslims, the third-largest number after Indonesia and Pakistan.

Many Hindus believe that the site was the birthplace of Rama, among the religion’s foremost gods in a pantheon of 330 million, and claim that a temple in his name was destroyed 482 years ago to build the mosque. Experts said the archeological record is inconclusive.

The government has been bracing for the verdict for weeks, marshaling thousands of troops to the area, banning bulk text messages for three days after the decision in a bid to deter violent protests, taking out full-page advertisements appealing for calm and cautioning the press not to speculate on the outcome or broadcast video of the 1992 mosque destruction.

In delaying the verdict, the Allahabad High Court said it would hold a hearing Tuesday so the Hindu and Muslim communities would have a chance to resolve the dispute, although mediation attempts have failed for decades.

“The Supreme Court felt a last attempt should be made to resolve this amicably,” Mukul Rohatgi, a lawyer who argued in front of the court for the delay, told reporters.

Mark.Magnier@latimes.com

Anshul Rana in the New Delhi bureau contributed to this report.