HC fixes Dec 5 for hearing on Gyanvapi mosque committee's plea

Allahabad HC has fixed Dec 5 for further hearing on a Gyanvapi masjid management's revision petition challenging a Varanasi court order on the maintainability of a plea

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The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday fixed December 5 for further hearing on a Gyanvapi masjid management's revision petition challenging a Varanasi court order on the maintainability of a plea seeking permission to offer regular prayers to idols of deities in the mosque complex.

On Tuesday, the high court, after a brief hearing, had adjourned the hearing in the case till Wednesday.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the counsel for the Hindu side argued that the case before the lower court was drafted honestly. He was arguing with the counsel for the Anjuman Intejamia Masjid, the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, who alleged that the case was cleverly drafted.

The Hindu side counsel further submitted that the provisions of the Places of Worship Act would not apply in the present case. However, after a brief hearing, Justice J J Munir directed the matter to be heard next on December 5.

The Gyanvapi mosque management committee had challenged the Varanasi court order rejecting its objection to the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women who sought permission to worship Shringar Gauri and other deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the mosque.

The district judge of Varanasi had on September 12 dismissed the plea.

The high court also fixed January 18, 2023, for further hearing on another revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and others challenging the Varanasi district judge's order by which the lower court had refused the demand of carbon dating of a 'Shivling' claimed to have been found in the Gyanvapi mosque complex.

This plea was also heard in the court of Justice J J Munir.

The counsel for the Hindu side sought time to gather information on whether the May 17 order of the Supreme Court is about a stay or whether the 'Shivling' should be examined scientifically without damaging it.

On October 14, Varanasi District Judge A K Vishvesh had turned down the plea seeking scientific investigation and carbon dating of the 'Shivling', citing Supreme Court directives for its safe keeping so that no tampering can be done.

Four of the five Hindu parties had sought carbon dating of the 'Shivling' found during a court-mandated videography survey of the mosque premises close to the "wazookhana", a small reservoir used by Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering Namaz.

The revision petition has sought appropriate survey or excavation to find out the nature of construction beneath the 'Shivling' discovered on May 16, 2022.

The Hindu parties have also sought scientific investigation by carbon dating to determine the age, nature and other constituents of the 'Shivling' in accordance with the provisions of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.