News Analysis India

Tag: Gyanvapi Mosque

  • Maximum video survey work on Gyanvapi mosque premises completed: Sources

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: With major part of video survey of the Gyanvapi mosque completed in compliance of Varanasi Civil Judge (Senior Divison) court order on Sunday peacefully covering all the three domes and main mosque area, the survey commission would continue the remaining work on Monday before submitting the report to the court on Tuesday, May 17.

    However, the commissioner tried to complete the work on Sunday itself by extending the survey hours from 8 am to 1 pm, but it could not be completed and the court appointed advocate commissioner informed the district administration that rest of the work would be completed on Monday.

    According to the official sources, the survey team needs more time to do detailing of already surveyed areas, including the basement in possession of Vyas family which has been contesting the issue with the mosque management committee since 1880. 

    It has one of the basements in its possession.

    On Monday, the area of pond for wazu (purification ritual) and some other parts will be surveyed.

    According to Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma, all team members of the survey commission were asked to be present at Gyanvapi on Monday morning to ensure completion of the survey by the advocate commissioner as its report has to be submitted before the court on Tuesday. The officials concerned said that the remaining might take only two hours to be completed on Monday.

    Earlier on Sunday morning , the team of over 50 members, including advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra, the special and assistant advocate commissioners Vishal Singh and Ajay Pratap Singh, representatives of both parties, their lawyers and videographers entered the Gyanvapi premises at 8 am. 

    Apart from them, the ADM (administration), ADM (city), additional deputy commissioner of police and chief executive officer of Kashi Vishwanath temple also took part in the survey.

    Commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh said that apart from increasing police force, the security plan was also revised to make the visit of devotees to Kashi Vishwanath temple easy and smooth.

    In a petition filed by Rakhi Singh of Delhi and Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak, all natives of Varanasi, on April 18, 2021 to seek permission for daily worship and performing rituals at the idols of Shringar Gauri in Gyanvapi and stopping the opponents from causing any damage to the statues, civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar had ordered the survey of Gyanvapi premises through an order issued on April 26.

  • Taking a cue from Gyanvapi, petitions filed in court for survey of Shahi Idgah mosque

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Following the precedent set by Varanasi local court in case related to Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri dispute, three petitioners filed separate petitions in Mathura Civil Judge (Senior Division) court seeking the appointment of an advocate commissioner to conduct videography and photography of the Shahi Eidgah mosque adjoining the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi. The petition was moved on Friday.

    The petitioner claimed that they had sought a spot inspection to find out if there were any signs related to the Hindu religion on the mosque premises.

    Manish Yadav, a petitioner in one of the cases related to Krishna Janmabhoomi, was among the petitioners who moved the application for appointment of an advocate commissioner to conduct videography and photography of Shahi Eidgah mosque. He also moved an application seeking temporary injunction to stop the opposite parties from deleting, removing or damaging the religious signs on the walls of the mosque so that material evidence could not be damaged.

    ALSO READ | Videography survey resumes at Gyanvapi Masjid complex amid tight security

    Yadav claimed that he had sought a temporary injunction stopping the managing committee of Shahi Eidgah mosque from destroying the evidence as the opposite parties could damage the religious signs present therein in the wake of the Varanasi court ruling for survey on Gyanvapi mosque premises.

    Two other petitioners, advocate Mahendra Pratap Singh and Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), have moved separate applications for appointment of advocate commissioner to conduct videography and photography of Shahi Eidgah mosque.

    The court of civil judge (senior division) posted the matter for July 1, 2022 for hearing and the applications would be taken up when the court reopens after the summer vacation.

    Shahi Eidgah mosque secretary and its counsel Tanveer Ahmad said the petitioners were moving applications one after the other when the matter was already fixed for deciding the maintainability of cases.

  • Status of places of worship should not be changed, will lead to conflict: Congress on Gyanvapi Masjid

    By PTI

    UDAIPUR: No attempt should be made to change the status of any place of worship as it would lead to huge conflict, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Saturday.

    It is to avoid such conflict that the Narasimha Rao government had passed the Places of Worship Act, he added.

    His remarks came a day after the Supreme Court refused to stay the inspection of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi.

    Chidambaram said the Places of Worship Act was passed after deep consideration and the only exception in that act was to the Ram Janmabhoomi.

    “We believe that all other places of worship should remain in the status they are and they were. We should not make an attempt to change the status of any place of worship, that will only lead to huge conflict and it is to avoid such conflict that the Narasimha Rao government passed the Places of Worship act,” he told reporters.

    The top court has agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey of the Gyanvapi premises.

    A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices J K Maheswari and Hima Kohli was told by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the Muslim side in the Gyanvapi mosque case, that the plea has been filed against the survey being conducted at the Varanasi site.

    “We have filed in relation to a survey which has been directed to be conducted in relation to the Varanasi property. This (Gyanvapi) has been a mosque since time immemorial and this is clearly interdicted by the Places of Worship Act,” Ahmadi said on Friday.

    He said the direction to conduct a survey has been passed and an order of status quo be passed at the moment Varanasi’s fast track court headed by a civil judge (senior division) had on April 8, 2021 directed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex and ascertain if a temple was demolished to build the mosque that stands adjacent to the temple.

    The Allahabad High Court, however, stayed the Varanasi court’s order on petitions by Anjuman Intazamia Masjid and the Sunni Central Waqf Board.

  • Gyanvapi mosque management committee may move HC over Varanasi court order

    By PTI

    VARANASI: The Gyanvapi mosque management committee may move the High Court against the local court’s order over the videography survey of the premises that is expected to begin on Saturday.

    A counsel for the mosque panel said the court’s decision delivered on Thursday is not final and it may be challenged in the High Court.

    “We have four days to challenge this order. We can challenge the order in the High Court after consultation,” advocate Abhay Nath Yadav said.

    The Varanasi court had on Thursday rejected a plea to replace the advocate commissioner it had appointed for conducting the videography survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex here and ordered the completion of the task by May 17.

    ALSO READ: Varanasi court rejects plea to change official, survey to be completed by Tuesday

    The district court also appointed two more lawyers to help the advocate commissioner carry out the survey at the mosque, which is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple.

    When asked about the hearing on the plea challenging the survey in the Supreme Court earlier in the day, the advocate said he does not know much about it.

    The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant an interim order of status quo on the survey. The top court, however, agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey.

    “As far as the Gyanvapi mosque management committee is concerned, we are contemplating to approach the High Court against the previous day’s order of the Varanasi court,” its counsel said.

    Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is appearing for the Hindu side, said on Friday said the survey may start on Saturday.

    ALSO READ: VHP asks Varanasi Gyanvapi mosque managing committee what’s hidden inside?

    “Today, the entire survey team will hold consultation among themselves and possibly start the work from Saturday,” he said.

    He said the three court-appointed advocate commissioners, five lawyers each from both sides and an assistant besides a videography team will carry out the survey.

    Meanwhile, visuals on TV channels showed people going for Friday prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque amid tight security.

    The Varanasi court on Thursday rejected the plea to change the court-appointed advocate commissioner to conduct the survey and appointed two more commissioners to assist him in the work.

    In the matter relating to the opening of two basements in the Gyanvapi complex for videography, the court said locks should be broken for carrying out the survey if the keys are not available.

  • Gyanvapi mosque: Varanasi court rejects plea to change official, survey to be completed by Tuesday

    By PTI

    VARANASI: A district court here on Thursday rejected the plea to change the court-appointed advocate commissioner for conducting a video survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex and appointed two additional advocate commissioners to assist him.

    The court also directed the completion of the survey by May 17 and submission of its report, Abhay Nath Yadav, who is representing the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, said.

    The court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar, which had also heard the matter relating to the opening of the two basements located inside the mosque complex for videography, delivered the verdict after hearing the arguments of both the sides.

    The Gyanvapi mosque management committee had filed an application seeking a replacement of court official Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was assigned to do the survey, claiming he was not impartial.

  • Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque case petitioner receives life threat, gets security

    By PTI
    VARANASI: A petitioner in the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque dispute case has allegedly received a life threat, after which he has been provided security, police said on Saturday. Harihar Pandey has been provided security on the orders of Varanasi Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh and they are investigating the case, a police officer said.

    Pandey said when he reached home after a fast-track court order in the case on Thursday, he received a call from an unknown number.

    He claimed that the person gave his name as Yasin and said, “Pandeyji, you have won the case but will not be able to enter the archaeological surveyed temple. You and your colleagues will be killed.”

    A Varanasi court on Thursday ordered an archaeological survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Gyanvapi mosque premises. In its order, the court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India at its expense.

    The plea in the case had contended that the mosque in Varanasi is a part of the temple.

  • Court allows ASI to conduct survey of disputed Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque complex

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: A Varanasi civil court on Thursday allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex. 

    The ASI has been asked to set up a five-member committee, comprising two from the minority communities, to conduct the survey. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to bear the cost of the survey so conducted.

    Local lawyer Vishnu Shankar Rastogi had filed a plea demanding restoration of the land entailing Gyanvapi Mosque to Hindus claiming that Mughal emperor  Aurangzeb had pulled down a portion of 2,000-year-old Kashi Vishwanath Temple to build the mosque there in 1644. Rastogi had filed the petition to claim the land for Hindus on behalf of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar.

    The court mandated the ASI to conduct the survey to find out if there was a superimposition, alteration or addition or structural overlapping with/over any other religious structure at the disputed site.

    ALSO READ | Mathura’s Krishna temple deity lies buried under a mosque in Agra Fort, claims advocate

    The petitioner had urged the court to declare that the land on which the mosque is standing belonged to the Hindus. The court was also urged to allow Hindus to worship and reconstruct the temple on the said land as the Hindus claim that the Gynavapi mosque was built on it by demolishing a portion of the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

    The petition was opposed by Anjuman Intezamia Masazid — the Gyanvapi Mosque management committee. But now the court has allowed the ASI to survey the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex.T

    According to the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, a civil court is barred from adjudicating the instant dispute in view of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act-1991 read with Section 9 of CPC.

  • Case filed to remove mosque next to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: In a major development on Friday, a suit was filed in a Varanasi court seeking restoration of pooja and darshan at an ancient temple on the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath temple.

    The suit was filed for restoration of darshan, pooja, aarti, bhog, and performance of rituals at ‘sthan’ of Lord Adi Visheshwar and of Goddess Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities within this temple complex.

    The suit would be placed before the court of the civil senior divisional judge for the hearing, said the petitioners’ lawyer HS Jain, who is also involved in moving the petitions pertaining to Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura. 

    The lawyer for the Anjuman Intazamia Masjid’s Committee of Management was also present in the court from the respondents’ side and sought time to file a counter affidavit in the case.

    “It is a title suit,” said the petitioners’ lawyer. Property in question is the temple complex known as “ancient temple” existing at settlement plot No. 9130within the area of Dasaswamedh in Varanasi. The plaint has been filed through 10 individuals acting as next friends of the deities within the precincts.

    Allahabad High Court has already seized the matter and it is hearing a similar case on a day-to-day basis.

    The Jyotirlinga, present on the same complex (Kashi Vishwanath temple), was damaged in 1669 during the rule of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb but other deities continued to exist within the temple complex which, the Muslims claim to be a part of the Gyanvapi mosque, the petition says.

    It says that the ownership of the entire property in the periphery of five ‘kos’ rests in the Asthan Adi Visheshwar and the deity is the owner of the entire land. Forced possession of the religious place cannot change the nature of the property and ownership rights of the existing deity. Petitioners also sought the court to declare that the property belonged to the deity.

    The suit was filed by lawyer Ranjana Agnihotri on behalf of Goddess Maa Shringar Gauri as her devotee and next friend, Jatinder Singh ‘Vishen’ as a devotee and next friend of Asthan Lord Adi Visheshwar, Jyotirlinga in the radius of five ‘kos’, situated in city and district of Varanasi and eight others including JanUdghosh Sewa Sansthan, a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, in Lucknow making Union of India, Government of UP, State of UP, District Magistrate, Varanasi, SSP, Varanasi, UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, Committee of Management Anjuman Intazamia Masajid, and Board of Trustees of Kashi Vishwanath Temple as a party.

    The petition said that every individual had the right to perform pooja and rituals as per the tenets of his religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India. Any obstacle in this would mean denial of one’s fundamental right to religion.