New Delhi:
As Ayodhya hearing enters its final leg, former ASI chief KK Muhammed, whose most notable contribution includes the reporting of the existence of a temple below the Babri Masjid, appeals government of India to re-create the 'atmoshpere' that existed earlier. Stressing upon the existence of a Ram temple, he says, "There must have been a temple.” "Traces of temple were found in the excavation and people used to come from far-flung places to worship there", KK Muhammed added.
KK Muhammed was also involved in key discoveries including Akbar’s Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri. The day-to-day hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case began in the Supreme Court on August 7 with the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu religious denomination, claiming Muslims had not prayed at the disputed site in Ayodhya since 1934.
"I could hear the sound of kirtan and the atmosphere used to be divine", Muhammed said.
“I myself have witnessed people in 1975-76 coming to worship on the site. There used to be crowd and I say this because I lived nearby the disputed site", he told News Nation.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, and comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, started hearing the matter. The Allahabad High Court, in its judgment of 2010 on four civil lawsuits, had partitioned the 2.77-acre disputed land equally among Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Fourteen appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court against the verdict. He retired as the Regional Director (North) of the Archaeological Survey of India. He was honoured with India's civilian honour Padma Shri in 2019 by President Ramnath Kovind.
