Oldest litigant in Babri Masjid case Mohammad Farooq died

The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case Mohammad Farooq passed away on 24 December 2014 due to old age-related ailments. He was 100.

Farooq, a resident of Ayodhya, was one of the seven main litigants from Muslim side in the 1949 Babri Masjid case regarding placing of Lord Rama idols in the premises.

Now, the eldest son of late Farooq, Mohammad Saleem will inherit his legacy of the case and may become litigant in place of his father as per Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General and convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani.

Background
On the night of 22 December 1949, an idol of Lord Rama mysteriously appeared inside Ayodhya's Babri Masjid. This incident had set in motion a chain of events in the Indian politics.

Farooq was one of the seven main litigants from the Muslim side who filed civil suits pledging their respective claims to the site. The rest of the six main litigants are Hashim Ansari, Ashhad Rashidi, Maulana Mahfuzurur Rahman, Mufti Hasbullah, Mahmud and Sunni Central Waqf Board.

Farooq’s father Mohammad Zahur was one of the original complainants regarding the placing of the idols of Lord Rama in the Babri Masjid.