"Family Worried About My Safety": Judge In Varanasi Mosque Case

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, a civil judge in the senior division of Varanasi's lower courts, wrote in his judgment: "An atmosphere of fear has been created. Such fear that my family was worried about their and my safety"

The judge at the Varanasi court who allowed filming inside the Gyanvapi mosque earlier this afternoon, said in his judgment that his family was intensely worried about his safety because "an ordinary civil matter has been converted into an extraordinary issue".

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, a civil judge in the senior division of Varanasi's lower courts, wrote in his judgment: "An atmosphere of fear has been created. Such fear that my family was worried about their and my safety. Whenever I was stepping out of my house, my wife used to worry about my security. There was some reports in the media that I would visit the survey site but my mother told me not to do it as she was worried about my safety".

In its judgment, the court said videography can happen at all places inside the Gyanvapi mosque as asked for by the petitioners.

In April, the court had ordered an inspection following petitions by five Hindu women asking for year-long access to a Hindu shrine behind the western wall of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi.