The Muslim side in the Ayodhya title dispute case on Tuesday said Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and accepted that Ram Chabutra (a platform) is his exact birth spot.
Appearing before a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, senior advocate Zafaryab Jilani clarified repeatedly to Justice S.A. Bobde that Ram Chabutra, in the outer courtyard, was worshipped by the Hindus as Lord Ram’s birthplace.
Mr. Jilani said his case was that the inside of Babri Masjid was never the birth spot.
“My case is that Hindus never worshipped the space inside the Babri Masjid as the birthplace of Lord Ram. But they worshipped the Ram Chabutra as the birthplace. The Ram Chabutra was hardly 50 to 80 feet from the mosque,” he said.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who earlier argued extensively for the Muslim side for days, had never, unlike Mr. Jilani, conceded that Ram Chabutra was the exact birth spot.
“So you have no dispute that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya,” Justice Bobde asked Mr. Jilani. “There is no dispute to that. Our dispute concerns their position that the birthplace is inside the mosque,” Mr. Jilani replied.
“But you accept that Ram Chabutra is the birthplace,” Justice Bobde persisted. “We accept it because there is a district judge finding,” Mr. Jilani responded.
But Justice Ashok Bhushan intervened to observe that no court had concluded that Ram Chabutra was the exact birthplace.
