Editing Babri Masjid (section)

=== 1880s temple construction attempts ===
In 1853, a group of armed Hindu ascetics from [[Hanuman Garhi Temple|Hanuman Garhi temple]] occupied the Babri Masjid.<ref name="Roma_2014">{{citation |last=Chatterji |first=Roma |title=Wording the World: Veena Das and Scenes of Inheritance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJOUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT406 |year=2014 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-6187-1 |page=406}}: "British administrative records show that the dispute began around 1853, when armed Hindu ascetics occupied the birthplace."</ref> Periodic violence erupted in the next two years, and the civil administration had to step in, refusing permission to build a temple or to use it as a place of worship. Gulam Hussain led a group of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]] who asserted that the mosque site was home to the Hanuman temple in 1855. After a Hindu-Muslim clash, a boundary wall was constructed to avoid further disputes. It divided the mosque premises into two courtyards; the Muslims offered prayers in the inner courtyard. In 1857, the ''mahant'' of the Hanuman Garhi temple erected a raised platform and marked the site of Rama's birth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ludden |first=David |title=Contesting the nation : religion community, and the politics of democracy in India |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-8122-1585-0 |location=Philadelphia |pages=38 |language=English}}</ref> The Hindus offered their prayers on a raised platform, known as "Ram Chabutara", in the outer courtyard.<ref name="Roma_2014" /><ref name="SGopal_1993">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47AARF595dUC&pg=PA65 |title=Anatomy of a Confrontation: Ayodhya and the Rise of Communal Politics in India |author=[[Sarvepalli Gopal]] |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-85649-050-4 |pages=64–77 }}</ref>

In 1883, the Hindus launched an effort to construct a temple on the platform. After Muslim protests, the deputy commissioner prohibited any temple construction on 19 January 1885. On 27 January 1885, Raghubar Das, the Hindu [[mahant]] (priest) of the Ram Chabutara filed a civil suit before the Faizabad Sub-Judge. In response, the ''mutawalli'' (Muslim trustee) of the mosque argued that the entire land belonged to the mosque.<ref name="Roma_2014" /> On 24 December 1885, the Sub Judge Pandit Hari Kishan Singh dismissed the suit. On 18 March 1886, the District Judge F.E.A. Chamier also dismissed an appeal against the lower court judgment. He agreed that the mosque was built on the land considered sacred by the Hindus, but ordered maintenance of [[status quo]], since it was "too late now to remedy the grievance". A subsequent appeal before the Judicial Commissioner W. Young was also dismissed on 1 November 1886.<ref name="SGopal_1993" />

On 27 March 1934, a Hindu–Muslim riot occurred in Ayodhya, triggered by cow slaughter in the nearby Shahjahanpur village. The walls around the Masjid and one of the domes of the Masjid were damaged during the riots. These were reconstructed by the [[British Raj|British Indian government]].{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2016}}