Gyanvapi suit maintainable, not barred by Places of Worship Act: Varanasi court

New Delhi, September 12

A Varanasi court on Monday held that the petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque was maintainable.

District Judge AK Vishvesh, who was assigned the case by the Supreme Court, said it would continue to hear the petition and fixed September 22 as the next date of hearing.

The court dismissed the plea filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee and others challenging the maintainability of the petition, filed by five Hindu women.

Masjid committee’s counsel Merajuddin Siddiqui said they would move the Allahabad High Court against the order. Five Hindu women — Rakhi Singh from Delhi and Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas, Laxmi Devi and Rekha Pathak from Varanasi — had moved the local court on August 18, 2021, seeking permission to perform daily puja at the Shringar Gauri shrine located at the north-west wall of the Gyanvapi mosque. The petitioners contended they had been allowed to worship at the site until 1993, even after the enactment of the Places of Worship Act in 1991. The masjid committee maintained the Gyanvapi mosque was a Waqf property and the plea by Hindu women was not maintainable. Prohibitory orders were in place in Varanasi ahead of the order. As the news came, some people were seen distributing sweets outside the court.

The Supreme Court had on May 20 handed over the trial of the suit to the Varanasi District Judge, saying it needed to be handled by a “slightly more experienced and seasoned” officer from the UP Higher Judicial Service.

Till then, the interim order passed by the top court on May 17 for the protection of the area where a court-mandated survey panel found a “Shivling” and allowing free access to Muslims to offer namaz in the mosque should continue, a three-judge Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud had said. BJP leaders expressed “happiness and faith in the judiciary”. “The people of UP and the country are all very happy,” said UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak. However, there was no official reaction from the BJP. All-India Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Khalid Rashidi said, “After the SC decision on the Places of Worship Act following the Babri Masjid case, we were hoping that no mandir-masjid issue would be raised in the country, but that has not happened.”

Meanwhile, the Ram temple will be opened on Makar Sankranti in 2024, the year the country will see the General Election. The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra has decided that on January 14, 2024, devotees can offer prayers in the new sanctum sanctorum. Around Rs 1,800 crore is estimated to be spent in the construction of the temple. (with PTI inputs)

Intezamia opposed worship rights

• Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee believes Gyanvapi mosque is Waqf property
• It questioned the maintainability of plea filed by five women, seeking permission to worship ‘Hindu deities on the mosque’s outer wall’

SC handed over case to UP court

…The suit of plaintiffs is not barred by the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the Waqf Act and UP Sri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act. The application by Anjuman Intezamia is liable to be dismissed. — AK Vishvesh, District Judge

Ram temple in Ayodhya expected to cost Rs 1,800 cr