The Allahabad high court on Tuesday dismissed pleas of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC), which manages Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque, and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB), challenging a civil suit seeking the restoration of a temple at the site of the Muslim place of worship adjoining Vishwanath Temple.
Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said the suit is not between two parties but of national importance.
The order came a day after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Monday filed in the Varanasi district court a report in a sealed packet on the scientific survey of the mosque. Hindu groups argue the land on which the mosque was built after the demolition of an ancient temple should be returned to Hindus.
Muslim groups have maintained the 1991 Places of Worship Act, which provides for the status quo at holy sites as they existed in 1947 except for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site, bars such pleas. Some of these pleas are also pending in the Supreme Court.
Justice Agarwal said the suit filed in a Varanasi court was maintainable and did not violate the 1991 law. He directed that the suit be decided preferably within six months. “No unnecessary adjournment shall be granted…”
The court referred to the ASI’s report and added if required, the lower court may direct the agency to conduct another survey.
On December 8, the high court reserved its judgment on five petitions challenging the maintainability of the suit pending in the Varanasi court seeking restoration of the temple.
The Varanasi court is hearing petitions of Hindu groups and individuals demanding worshipping rights inside the mosque premises, claiming the presence of Hindu idols and deities within the complex abutting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The fresh ASI survey was the second such controversial exercise at the premises. Hindu groups claimed to have discovered a Shivling there last year. The Muslim side maintained the structure claimed to be a Shivling was part of a ritual ablution fountain. The area remains sealed as per the Supreme Court’s orders.
On July 21, the Varanasi court directed ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey. On July 24, the mosque committee moved the Supreme Court against the order. The committee argued it was not given adequate time to challenge the order. The Supreme Court stayed until 5pm on July 26 the Varanasi court’s order, saying some “breathing time” must be granted to the petitioners to move the high court.
The Gyanvapi mosque’s scientific survey resumed amid tight security on August 4. The Allahabad high court on August 3 vacated a stay and gave the go-ahead for the exercise.
On December 11, the court accepted ASI’s plea and granted it one more week to file the report.
The Varanasi court’s verdict ordering the survey came on two applications moved by four of the five Hindu plaintiffs who filed a suit in August 2021, demanding the right of unhindered worship at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, located inside the complex that houses idols of Hindu gods.
The mosque management committee rejected the claim that the mosque was built over a temple, maintaining the structure at the spot was always a mosque.
The Allahabad high court also on Thursday last allowed a survey of the Shahi Eidgah mosque abutting in Mathura’s Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple.
