A Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud will hear the petition for a stay on the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi, which is next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
On Friday night, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana issued an order directing the registry to list the matter before Justice Chandrachud, which was posted on the Supreme Court website.
Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, represented by Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, Senior Advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, Advocate Ibad Mushtaq, and Advocate Kanishka Prasad, has filed a petition against the survey of the disputed Gyanvapi Mosque edifice.
The petition’s principal argument is that the Supreme Court should order the survey of the controversial Gyanvapi Mosque structure to be halted because it breaches the Places of Worship Act of 1991.It’s worth noting that, while we refer to the Gyanvapi Mosque as a “disputed edifice,” a Hindu temple may be seen from naked eyes.
Moreover, multiple eyewitnesses have corroborated the presence of Hindu symbols on the disputed structure’s premises. “There are Bhagwan Vishnu, Mata Lakshmi, even the wheel of Buddhists, etc., carved on the Pillars,” remarked the former Mahant of the Kashi-Vishwanath temple. There used to be a coal business there when I saw it back then. The shopkeeper’s wife used to prepare food and then sell it to the clients.”
In light of this, the petition by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee is critical, since if the survey of the disputed structure is blocked, the Kashi temple’s reclamation is jeopardised.
Given that this petition is scheduled to be heard by Justice DY Chandrachud, one might be able to predict how the case will move. The 5 Judge bench had added a long-winded unanimous decision on the Places of Worship Act, 1991, during the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict. Justice DY Chandrachud was one of the five judges who unanimously gave the verdict.
Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee’s current Supreme Court petition essentially claims that the survey of the disputed Gyanvapi Mosque structure is in breach of the Places of Worship Act.
Given what we know about Justice Chandrachud’s views on the Act’s sanctity and how the Bench misread Justice DY Sharma’s statements, the Muslim organization’s petition is likely to be granted.
The Supreme Court bench, on the other hand, had refused to give status quo, claiming that it was unaware of the issue because it had not examined the files at the time.
“We have not seen the papers. We don’t even know what is the matter. I don’t know anything….how can I pass an order. I will read and then pass orders….let me see.”
CJI N V Ramana
“Survey has been directed in regard to Varanasi property,” said Ahmadi, who was representing the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which maintains the Gyanvapi Mosque.
The Act on Places of Worship covers this. The Commissioner has now been instructed by the Court to undertake a survey.
Five women had petitioned the court to allow daily worship at the Shringar Gauri temple, which was supposedly located within the grounds of the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque. On the petition of the aforementioned, the civil court issued an order for survey and filming of the premises.
Another appeal, filed in 1991 by Vijay Shankar Rastogi, claimed that the entire sites belonged to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and that the Gyanvapi Mosque was simply a component of the Temple. Rastogi further stated that the Kashi Vishwanath Temple was erected over two thousand years ago and that the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb damaged the temple.