Gyanvapi mosque case: Hearing to resume in Varanasi court today | What’s happened so far
India Today
The legal battle over the Gyanvapi mosque is set to heat up once again as the Varanasi district court today resumes hearing on a maintainability plea filed by the Muslim side. Here’s a quick refresher on what has happened so far in the case:
A Varanasi court on Monday will resume hearing arguments of the Mosque management committee (Anjuman Intezamia Masjid) challenging the maintainability of a petition seeking permission to offer prayers to Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex.
On May 20, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the case from the court of civil judge to the district judge, Varanasi, and start hearing on its maintainability. The district judge’s court had started hearing the Muslim side’s arguments in the case on May 24.
The district court is also likely to look into the leak of video footage of the court-mandated Gyanvapi mosque survey in this case. The footage had allegedly been leaked after the petitioners on the Hindu side received it from the court in sealed packets on May 30.
1. A petition filed in 1991 in a Varanasi court claimed that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his reign in the 16th century.
2. The petitioners and local priests sought permission to worship in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The Allahabad High Court in 2019 ordered a stay on an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey that was requested by the petitioners.
READ | Gyanvapi Masjid row: Read what Aurangzeb said while ordering demolition of Kashi Vishwanath temple
3. The current controversy started when five Hindu women sought to routinely worship Shringar Gauri and other deities within the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
