Gyanvapi case: Allahabad High Court rejects Muslim side’s petitions against ASI survey, worship

On Tuesday, the Allahabad High Court dismissed all Muslim petitions challenging Hindus’ plea to be allowed to worship at the Gyanvapi mosque. The Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed petitions concerning the ownership dispute between Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque and Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

The High Court dismissed three petitions challenging 2021 ASI survey order and two petitions challenging the maintainability of a 1991 civil suit brought by Hindu worshippers that was pending before a Varanasi District Court. Justice Rohit Ranjan Aggarwal’s one-judge panel further requested that the lower court wrap up its hearing on the case in six months.

The High Court further declared that the survey could be repeated and the results could be filed to the Varanasi District Court if anything was missed.

The Varanasi District Court’s 2021 order for an ASI survey in the mosque complex, as well as the civil suit that sought the right to worship, were both challenged by the Muslim side. They had claimed that the Places of Worship Act of 1991 prohibited the civil suit.

In their civil suit, the Hindu side countered that the Gyanvapi mosque is a component of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

The 1991 Act, which forbids the conversion of any place of worship and preserves the site’s religious character as it existed at the time of independence, does not bar the 1991 civil suit, the High Court declared during the hearing.

On December 8, after hearing arguments from the petitioners’ and respondent’s attorneys, Justice Aggarwal had reserved the verdict.

The decision was made one day after the ASI delivere its scientific survey report on the mosque complex to the Varanasi District Court. A copy of the report will be sent to the Supreme Court and distributed to the petitioners on December 21.

To ascertain whether the Gyanvapi mosque complex was built on top of an earlier Hindu temple structure, the ASI conducted a survey of the area. It started when the Varanasi District Court’s order was upheld by the Allahabad High Court, which decided that the action was “necessary in the interest of justice” and would help both the Muslim and Hindu parties in the land dispute.

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