Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Nov 10: The Supreme Court decided on Thursday to hear the Gyanvapi Masjid issue at 3 PM tomorrow. After Attorney Vishnu Shankar Jain on behalf of the Hindu plaintiffs urgently mentioned the case, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud consented to form the bench tomorrow.
Jain argued that the Supreme Court’s temporary injunction, issued on May 17 to preserve a Shivling allegedly discovered during an Advocate Commissioner survey within a Masjid, is set to expire on November 12. He further stated that the plea made by the Anjuman Intezemia Masjid Committee, which oversees the Masjid, contesting the suit’s maintainability, was rejected.
“The interim order for the protection of Shivling area is coming to an end on November 12. The Order 7 Rule 11 application of the other side has been rejected”, Jain submitted.
The case has previously been heard by a bench made up of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narasimha.
The Court had decided to list the case today (November 10) on October 31. However, it was omitted off the list.
The Varanasi Civil Court ordered a survey in response to a lawsuit brought by five Hindu women demanding the right to worship deities on the mosque grounds all year long. The Anjuman Intezemia Masjid Committee has filed a special leave petition in this case to overturn the survey order.
On May 17, the Top Court made it clear that the order made by the Varanasi Civil Judge Senior Division to preserve the area where a “shivling” was allegedly discovered during the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque will not hinder Muslims’ access to the mosque for namaz and other religious observances.
On May 20, the Supreme Court ordered that the case be transferred to Varanasi District Court, stating that a senior and knowledgeable judge should handle it given the nature of the problems raised. The court ordered the District Court to hear the applications that the Masjid Committee had submitted under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC, which questioned the suit’s capacity to be maintained on the basis of priority.
The case was postponed by the Court on July 21 to October 20 in order to await the District Court’s ruling. The District Court recently dismissed the Masjid Committee’s challenge to the suit’s maintainability and ruled that the Places of Worship Act of 1991 did not preclude it.
A request for carbon dating and a scientific analysis of the “shiv ling” was denied by the Varanasi District Court two weeks ago.
