The Allahabad High Court will hear a plea challenging the Varanasi District Court's decision on the challenge to the plea of Hindu devotees.
Deciding on the maintainability suit filed against the petition of five Hindu devotees' regarding Gyanvapi Mosque, the Varanasi District Court had rejected the challenge to the devotees' plea, ruling that the plea was maintainbale.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee of Gyanvapi Mosque has challenged the district court's order in the High Court and it will be heard on Wednesday.
Justice J J Munir passed the order on a joint request from the counsels for the parties concerned. Fixing October 19 as the date of hearing, the high court directed that a photocopy of all papers on the basis of which the district judge had disposed of the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) has to be sent to this court by Wednesday. The photo copies have to be verified by the district judge, the high court said.
What's the Gyanvapi case?
Five Hindu devotees in August 2021 filed a petition seeking rights to pray daily before Hindu idols on the outer walls of Gyanvapi Mosque.
The mosque committee argued that the plea is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act. When the matter reached the Supreme Court, the apex court instructed the district court to first decide on the maintainability of the case before deciding on the plea itself.
On September 12, the Varanasi District Court ruled that the suit was maintainable and Places of Worship Act did not apply in the case as the petitioners were not seeking to change the religious character of the place but were only seeking prayer rights.
The mosque committee has now filed a revision petition in the high court against the district court order.
Latest developments in Gyanvapi case
In the latest development in the Gyanvapi case, the Varanasi court rejected the plea by four Hindu devotees seeking carbon dating of a structure found during the videography survey of the mosque.
In the hearing of the petition, a videography survey was ordered. During the survey, a 'Shivling' was claimed to have been found close to the "wazookhana" —ablution pond— in the mosque. The mosque committee opposed this, saying it was not a Shivling but a fountain.
The court rejected the plea seeking carbon dating on the ground that the Supreme Court has ordered the sealing of the place where the 'Shivling' was found, according to legal news website Lawbeat.
(With PTI inputs)
