Editing Babri Masjid (section)

=== Placement of Hindu idols ===
In December 1949, the Hindu organisation Akhil Bharatiya Ramayana Mahasabha organised a non-stop nine-day recitation of the ''[[Ramacharitamanas]]'' just outside the mosque. At the end of this event, on the night of 22–23 December 1949, a group of 50–60 people entered the mosque and placed idols of [[Rama]] there. On the morning of 23 December, the event organisers asked Hindu devotees to come to the mosque for a ''[[darśana|darshan]]''. As thousands of Hindus started visiting the place, the Government declared the mosque a disputed area and locked its gates.<ref name="SGopal_1993" />

Home Minister [[Vallabhbhai Patel]] and Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] directed the state's [[Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh|Chief Minister]]  [[Govind Ballabh Pant]] to remove the idols, however Pant was not willing to remove the idols. Pant wrote in response that "there is a reasonable chance of success, but things are still in a fluid state and it will be hazardous to say more at this stage".<ref name="Godbole 1996">{{cite book | last=Godbole | first=M. | title=Unfinished Innings: Recollections and Reflections of a Civil Servant | publisher=Orient Longman | year=1996 | isbn=978-81-250-0883-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItQF4g08KbwC&pg=PA332 | access-date=2024-01-04 | pages=332–333}}</ref><ref name="Gehlot 1998 p. 203">{{cite book | last=Gehlot | first=N.S. | title=Current Trends in Indian Politics | publisher=Deep & Deep Publications | year=1998 | isbn=978-81-7100-798-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-c0nGTRxRIC&pg=PA203 | page=203}}</ref> By 1950, the state took control of the structure under section 145 CrPC and allowed Hindus, not Muslims, to perform their worship at the site.<ref name="Chatterji">{{cite book | last=Chatterji | first=Roma  | title=Wording the World: Veena Das and Scenes of Inheritance | publisher=Fordham University Press | series=Forms of Living | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-8232-6187-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJOUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT408 | page=408}}</ref>

On 16 January 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad filed a civil suit in the Faizabad Court, asking that Hindus be allowed to worship Rama and Sita at the place. In 1959, the [[Nirmohi Akhara]] filed another lawsuit demanding possession of the mosque. On 18 December 1961, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board also filed a lawsuit, demanding possession of the site and removal of idols from the mosque premises.<ref name="SGopal_1993" />