The Varanasi district and sessions court on Monday dismissed Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s challenge against civil suits challenging the title of the Gyanvapi mosque and the land surrounding it. In early August 2021, five Hindu women filed a petition requesting the right to worship inside the Varanas mosque.
This petition has been filed seeking the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the mosque complex situated next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
The dismissal by District Judge AK Vishvesh means the civil claims will be heard in detail and an examination of the evidence will follow. And to counter this, the Anjuman Islamia Masjid Committee (AIMC), which manages the mosque, has filed another petition. The committee questioned the maintainability of the case citing the Places of Worship Act, 1991. Under the law, conversion of the religious character of a place of worship, which existed on August 15, 1947, is prohibited and illegal.
The nearly three-decade-long Gyanvapi controversy will decide the fate of the faith now under the control of the district judge. The itinerary of the Gyanvapi case is as follows:
1991: Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar filed the first petition against the Gyanwapi case in the Varanasi court in 1991. The petition demanded the right to worship in the Gyanvapi complex. It was also the same year that the Places of Worship Law took shape.
The petition was based on three key points:
- Declaration of the entire Gyanvapi complex as Kashi Temple.
- No participation of Muslim communities in the area.
- And demolition of the mosque.
1998: The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed a new case before the Allahabad High Court. This petition claimed that the land dispute between the temple and the mosque could not be tried by a civil court under the law. And as a result, the process was carried out in the lower courts for 22 years by the High Court.
2019: Almost after 21 years, a person named Rastogi filed another plea on behalf of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar in Varanasi district. Claiming himself as Swayambhu’s “next friend”, he demanded an archaeological survey of the entire disputed area.
2020: In that reversal, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee intervened again and opposed the petition seeking an ASI survey of the entire Gyanvapi complex.
2020: However, petitioner Rastogi again approached the lower court to resume hearing of the 1991 petition as the Allahabad High Court had not extended the stay further.
March 2021: A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde took up the Places of Worship Act, 1991 to examine the substantiality and validity of the law.
August 2021: The Gyanvapi case again sparked a fight when five Hindu devotees filed a petition in the Varanasi Court seeking permission to worship deities Hanuman, Nandi and Shringar Gauri, inside the Gyanvapi complex. It is reported that these idols were present on the walls of the disputed construction. This petition also demanded the protection and preservation of these idols.
September 2021: Single Judge Justice Prakash Padia of the Allahabad High Court announced that he will wait for a fresh judgment in the cases of the matter that are already pending. The court further stated: “The court below should not have proceeded and decided the application made by the plaintiffs in the original suit for a survey to be carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India. In the opinion of the Court, the lower Court should await the verdict on the petitions pending before this Court and not pursue the matter until judgment is rendered.”
April 2022: Based on the petition filed in August 2021, the Varanasi court appointed a defense commissioner and ordered a graphic video survey of the complex. This decision was also challenged by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee before the Allahabad High Court but was upheld, followed by the Special Leave Petition filed before the Supreme Court.
May 6, 2022: Just after the officials headed by the district magistrate executed the graphical video survey, the AIMC advocate filed a petition. This petition alleged that advocate commissioner Ajai Mishra was biased and demanded his removal.
May 12, 2022: However, the court denied all allegations against Ajai Mishra. Additionally, senior advocate Vishal Singh has been appointed to supervise the survey as special advocate commissioner.
May 14-19, 2022: The survey resumed again and was conducted over two days. All survey results were presented in a report to the court on May 17.
May 20, 2022: The Supreme Court subsequently transferred the proceedings of the case to a district judge. And the court decided to involve a senior judicial officer with an experience of 25 to 30 years to handle this case in a better way.
May 26, 2022: The hearing on the maintainability petition of the case continued to be extended to new dates as the arguments of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee are incomplete till date.
August 24, 2022: On this day of hearing, Varanasi District Judge Ajai Krishna Vishvesha reserved his order till September 12. And in the meantime, he asked both sides to complete their set of arguments.
September 12, 2022: District Court Judge AK Vishvesh dismissed the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s pleas. This means that civil claims will now be heard in detail and an examination of the evidence will follow. Furthermore, the next court hearing on the Gyanvapi controversy is scheduled for September 22, 2022.
October 11, 2022: The Varanasi district court has fixed October 14 as the date to deliver its order on the carbon dating demand for the alleged ‘Shivlinga’ found inside the Gyanvapi mosque.
October 14, 2022: The Varanasi court rejected the plea filed by the four Hindu women demanding carbon dating of the structure they claimed was a Shivling found inside the wazukhana or warehouse of the Gyanvapi mosque.
The Gyanvapi Mosque is a controversial Mughal monument located next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: ptivs2.edu.vn