New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant an early hearing on Gyanvapi mosque committee’s petition challenging the Order of the Varanasi District Court which allowed Hindus to worship in the southern cellar of the complex.
The SC asked the mosque committee to approach the Allahabad High Court in this regard.
The District Court of Varanasi passed an order on January 31 afternoon allowing Hindus to perform prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi Mosque.
Within a few hours after the District Court passed the order, the Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, Varanasi filed an urgent application after approaching the residence of Supreme Court registrar seeking status quo at the mosque site.
The lawyers of the Mosque Committee approached the residence of a Supreme Court registrar last night seeking an urgent hearing at night itself, raising the apprehension that poojas will be performed inside the mosque during the night.
The Registrar replied that he would inform after taking instructions from the Chief Justice of India.
This morning around 7 AM, the Registrar telephonically conveyed to the mosque committee’s lawyer Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi that CJI DY Chandrachud has said that they will have to approach the Allahabad High Court.
Advocates Nizam Pasha, Rashmi Singh, Ibad Mushtaq, and Akansha Rai were also on the legal team of the Gyanvapi mosque committee.
The matter pertains to the ongoing tussle on the issue that a large Hindu temple existed before the construction of the Gyanvapi Mosque abutting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the most famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva in Varanasi.
Last August, the Supreme Court allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the mosque premises, excluding the ‘wuzukhana’ area where a ‘Shivling’ was claimed to have been found.
The ASI’s survey aimed to determine if the mosque was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple structure. Permission for this survey was first granted by the district judge in July, and later the order was upheld by the Allahabad High Court in August.
On January 24, the Varanasi court allowed the ASI to make its scientific survey report of the Gyanvapi Mosque public. The ASI’s report, now made public, states that a large Hindu temple existed before the construction of the Gyanvapi Mosque.
It reveals the reuse of parts, including pillars, from the pre-existing temple in the mosque’s construction. The survey uncovered 34 inscriptions, with a significant number on stones from the earlier Hindu temple. The report indicates the discovery of sculptures of Hindu deities and architectural structures buried in one of the cellars.
The ASI concludes that the reuse of inscriptions suggests the destruction of earlier structures, with their parts repurposed in constructing or repairing the existing Gyanvapi mosque.
After the ASI report was made public The Hindu parties moved the district court to allow them Pooja and cleaning of the area.
The District Court of Varanasi yesterday allowed Hindus to perform prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
