Express News Service
LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea challenging the maintainability of a suit filed by five Hindu women seeking permission for regular worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque compound.
The High Court had reserved the verdict in the case after hearing both sides on December 24, last year.
Justice JJ Munir rejected the review petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM) — which is the mosque management committee — against the order of Varanasi district judge AK Vishwesha by which he had held the suit filed by Hindu women plaintiffs maintainable.
AIM had moved the High Court in October 2022 to challenge the Varanasi district court’s order after it turned down the mosque management committee’s objections on the maintainability of the suit filed by the five Hindu women.
The Varanasi district judge had dismissed AIM’s objection under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC on September 12, 2022. In his order, district judge Vishwesha had observed that the suit of Hindu women plaintiffs was not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act, 1995 and UP Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act-1983, as was being claimed by AIM.
The five women plaintiffs filed a suit in August 2021 seeking the right to worship goddess Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque complex located next to Kashi Vishwanath temple. They had also claimed that the present mosque premises was once a Hindu temple and it was demolished during the rule of Emperor Aurangzeb to construct a mosque in its place.
Initially, the plaintiffs had approached the Varanasi civil (Senior Division) court seeking the right to worship on the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque, on the ground that it was a Hindu temple and still houses Hindu deities.
The civil court (Senior Division) had ordered a survey of the mosque by an advocate commissioner leading a court commission in May, last year. The advocate commissioner then conducted the video-graphed survey and submitted a report to the Varanasi Civil Court.
The AIM then filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC challenging the maintainability of the suit on grounds that the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which was introduced at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, sought to protect the status of all religious structures as it stood on August 15, 1947.
LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea challenging the maintainability of a suit filed by five Hindu women seeking permission for regular worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque compound.
The High Court had reserved the verdict in the case after hearing both sides on December 24, last year.
Justice JJ Munir rejected the review petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM) — which is the mosque management committee — against the order of Varanasi district judge AK Vishwesha by which he had held the suit filed by Hindu women plaintiffs maintainable.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
AIM had moved the High Court in October 2022 to challenge the Varanasi district court’s order after it turned down the mosque management committee’s objections on the maintainability of the suit filed by the five Hindu women.
The Varanasi district judge had dismissed AIM’s objection under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC on September 12, 2022. In his order, district judge Vishwesha had observed that the suit of Hindu women plaintiffs was not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act, 1995 and UP Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act-1983, as was being claimed by AIM.
The five women plaintiffs filed a suit in August 2021 seeking the right to worship goddess Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque complex located next to Kashi Vishwanath temple. They had also claimed that the present mosque premises was once a Hindu temple and it was demolished during the rule of Emperor Aurangzeb to construct a mosque in its place.
Initially, the plaintiffs had approached the Varanasi civil (Senior Division) court seeking the right to worship on the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque, on the ground that it was a Hindu temple and still houses Hindu deities.
The civil court (Senior Division) had ordered a survey of the mosque by an advocate commissioner leading a court commission in May, last year. The advocate commissioner then conducted the video-graphed survey and submitted a report to the Varanasi Civil Court.
The AIM then filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC challenging the maintainability of the suit on grounds that the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which was introduced at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, sought to protect the status of all religious structures as it stood on August 15, 1947.
