The seniormost judge from court of Varanasi will today give key decision on the case filed by 5 Hindu women demanding right to worship inside the city’s Gyanvapi mosque, is “justifiable” or not. The mosque is situated just besides to the famous ‘Kashi Vishwanath’ temple.
The decision by judge AK Vishvesha will finally decide whether the cass put up by the 5 women will keep on hearing or it will lose its legal standing.
Shifting the case from the lower court, the Supreme Court had assigned the case to Varansi court in May.
“Keeping the complexity and sensitivity of the matter in view, the civil suit before the civil judge in Varanasi shall be heard before a senior and experienced judicial officer of the UP judicial service,” the apex court had ordered.
The Varanasi civil court had asked for filming of the Gyanvapi mosque on the basis of the petition filed by the 5 Hindu women a month before the SC’s intervention. The 5 women had claimed that there were Hindu Gods and Goddesses idols inside the mosque.
Despite the report on filming of the mosque submitted with the Varanasi inside a cover, the Hindu petitioners still managed to reveal contentious information just a few hours later.
In the report, it was revealed that a “Shivling” was found in a pond inside the mosque, which was used for the purification rituals just before the Muslim prayers. During the hearing, the judge had immediately ordered to seal the pond.
However, the Gyanvapi mosque committee had questioned the filming inside the decades old mosque.
The petitioners from the Gyanvapi committee had underlined that the filming was against the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as on August 15, 1947.
“Such petitions and sealing of mosques will lead to public mischief and communal disharmony, will affect mosques across the country,” said the mosque committee.
