In a massive win for the Hindu side, the Allahabad High Court has ruled that the civil suits filed by Hindu worshippers and deity seeking the right to worship on the disputed Gyanvapi land and restoration of the temple are not barred by the Places of Worship Act 1991.
The Allahabad HC has rejected the plea filed by the Masjid Committee which challenged the suits filed by the Hindu worshippers and the deity in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi land title dispite.
The ruling, which was reserved on 8th December, was passed by the bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal.
The lower court has also been directed to expeditiously decide the suit in 6 months. It also added that if the court deems a survey necessary for any part, it may instruct the ASI to conduct it.
A suit was filed in 1991 by the Ancient Idol of Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar and 5 others before a local court in Varanasi seeking the removal of the mosque and restoration of the disputed land to Hindus.
On 8th April 2021, the Varanasi civil court allowed the ASI to conduct a comprehensive physical survey of the disputed site adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The Anjuman Intezamiya Masjid Committee had moved high court against this order. The HC had stayed the proceedings before the lower court including the ASI survey of Gyanvapi.
Five petitions including a plea were being heard together by the HC in the case. In a related matter, 5 Hindu worshippers filed a suit before a local court seeking the right to worship Hindu deities inside the Gyanvapi complex.
A scientific examination of the controversial complex was mandated by the Varanasi court on 21st July to determine whether the mosque was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.”
The ASI was instructed to undertake scientific investigation at the property in question, i.e. settlement plot number 9130 (Gyanvapi site), by District and Sessions Judge AK Vishvesha. The survey was to exclude the ‘Wazukhana’ area, which was sealed on the Supreme Court’s order.
The mosque committee, however, sought a stay on the survey from the Allahabad High Court and then the Supreme Court. The survey was resumed on 4th August under security arrangements after both courts cleared the way.
The ASI asked the court for more time to finish the survey after the allotted time had passed. “In compliance with the said order, the ASI is conducting a scientific investigation/survey at the site,” the ASI stated in its request asking for an extension of time.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which had previously requested that the survey of the controversial mosque complex be halted, objected to giving the ASI more time.
Last month, the ASI informed the court that it had completed a scientific survey at the site but that the ground-penetrating radar survey report was still being prepared, and that it would need more time to submit the survey report.
Finally on 18th December, the ASI submitted its report on the a scientific survey it had undertaken at the controversial Gyanvapi complex.
