Ownership rights of disputed site rightly accorded to Hindus: Shia Waqf Board

Wasim Rizvi, a member of Shia Waqf Board, on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute case, saying that the ownership rights of the disputed site have rightly been accorded to Hindus.

"The disputed site has been given to Hindus for Ram temple construction. I congratulate all Indians for this verdict," Rizvi told ANI.

"As the Supreme Court has accepted that the mosque was built by Mir Baqi, then the Shia Waqf Board should get five acres of land as Mir Baqi was a Shia. We will take legal advice over this. Sunnis have no right over it," he added.

The Supreme Court on Saturday directed the Central government to hand over the disputed site at Ayodhya for the construction of a temple and set up a trust for this.

The apex court also directed the government to give a suitable plot of land measuring five-acre to the Sunni Waqf Board.

A five-judge constitution bench presided by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer passed the order on a batch of petitions against an order of the Allahabad High Court, which had trifurcated the site among Ramlalla Virajman, Sunni Central Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara.

A decade-long legal dispute was fought by right-wing party Hindu Mahasabha, a sect of Hindu monks Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Waqf Board over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya.