A Varanasi District Court rejected a counter plea filed by the local Anjuman Islamia Committe which contested the pleas filed by five Hindu women who sought permission from Varanasi District Court to offer prayers at the city’s Gyanvapi mosque which is adjacent to the world-famous Kashi Viswanath Temple.
It should be known that the committee objected to the lawsuit and termed it unlawful under the Places of Worship Act. 1991. While giving his ruling in the case, District Judge A. K. Vishveshva’s said that neither the Waqf Act nor the Places of Worship Act preclude the Hindu Worshippers’ lawsuit from proceeding. Thus, the Anjuman Islamia Committee’s objection to the suit’s maintainability was disapproved. Varanasi Court will now continue to hear the case further.
District Judge A. K. Vishvesha concluded the hearing and reserved its order last month after hearing the parties in great detail. The plaintiffs contended that the site of the current mosque was formerly a Hindu temple that Mughal ruler Aurangzeb destroyed before the present mosque was erected there.
On the other side, the Anjuman Masjid committee contended in its objection and order 7 rule 11 CPC application that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 expressly barred the lawsuit.
The Muslim side’s petition was denied by the court, which declared the case to be maintainable. According to Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is the district court’s representative for the Hindu side, the case’s next hearing is scheduled for September 22.
