The Gyanvapi mosque case will be heard by the Supreme Court on Friday, 11 November, 2022. PTI
New Delhi: The Gyanvapi mosque case will be heard by the Supreme Court on Friday, 11 November, 2022, a day before the interim order passed on 17 May for the protection of the ‘Shivling’ reportedly found inside the masjid ends.
New bench to hear Gyanvapi case on 11 November
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has agreed to constitute a new bench on Friday after an urgent hearing of the case was made by Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is representing five Hindu women demanding the right to regularly worship deities in the complex.
Jain said that the interim order passed by the apex court in May for the protection of the ‘Shivling’ which was reportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex during the videography survey by the Advocate Commissioner is expiring on 12 November.
“Our difficulty is that the court’s interim order is coming to end on 12 November,” Jain said.
Earlier, the matter was heard by a bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and PS Narasimha.
‘Protect the spot where Shivling was claimed’: SC on 17 May
In its order on 17 May, the Supreme Court had clarified that the order passed by the Civil Judge Senior Division at Varanasi to protect the spot where ‘Shivling’ was claimed to have been found during the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque will not restrict the right of Muslims to access the mosque to offer namaz and to perform religious observances.
The suit was transferred by the top court on 20 May to Varanasi District Court, observing that a senior and experienced judicial officer should deal with the matter considering the sensitivity of the issues involved.
The SC also stated that the District Court should hear the applications filed by the Masjid Committee under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC questioning the maintainability of the suit on priority.
Couple of months later, on 21 July, the apex court adjourned the matter to 20 October, to await the decision of the District Court.
In its recent hearing, the District Court rejected the Masjid Committee’s objection to the maintainability of the suit and held that the same was not barred by the Places of Worship Act 1991.
‘Shivling’ in Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi mosque is situated beside the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi. Till now, an area inside the mosque complex is open to Hindu devotees once a year for prayers.
Earlier, five Hindu women moved court, seeking permission for daily prayers before idols on its outer walls and other “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex”. Following this, a Varanasi court ordered a videography survey of the mosque complex.
During the survey, Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, the lawyer for the group of Hindu petitioners claimed that water was drained from a pond inside the mosque complex and a ‘Shivling’ was found. The waterbody or the pond in the Gyanvapi mosque was used for “Wazoo” or ablution rituals before namaz.
The mosque committee rejected the claim of the Hindu side and said that the structure was a “fountain”. They also moved a plea arguing that the Hindu side’s petition had no legal standing. The challenge was, however, dismissed by the Varanasi court.
It was then, the Supreme Court had ordered sealing of the area and directed the administration to ensure that no one enters it.
For the unversed, there are a total of seven cases related to the Gyanvapi mosque pending in various courts. The most prominent one is the one involving the five Hindu women.
With inputs from agencies
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