The verdict of the Varanasi District Court has come in the Gyanvapi Masjid-Shringar Gauri Mandir case. The district court has ruled in the Hindu side. District Court Judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesh has given this decision. He has considered the petition seeking permission for worship in the Shringar Gauri temple to be worthy of hearing.
Hindu side’s lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain told that the court has dismissed the petition of the Muslim side and considered the matter worthy of hearing. He told that now the next hearing in this case will be on September 22.
After the decision comes in the Hindu side, now the Muslim side will challenge it in the upper court. The Muslim side can move the High Court against the decision of the District Court.
Worship Act will not apply
Harishankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side, said that the court has considered in its decision that the Places of Worship Act of 1991 does not apply in this decision. He told that the court has rejected all the claims of the Muslim side.
In fact, the Muslim side argued that it was forbidden to take any decision under the 1991 Places of Worship Act. This 1991 law says that the religious place in which it was before August 15, 1947, will remain in that form. However, the Ayodhya case was set aside.
Advocate Harishankar Jain told that now the next hearing of the case will be held on September 22. Now your arguments and evidence will be placed in the court. He said that the Muslim side can challenge it in the High Court or the Supreme Court if they want.
What will the Muslim side do now?
Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahal, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, issued a statement saying that this entire decision will be read and only then they will decide what to do next.
He told that what the Supreme Court had said in relation to the Worship Act of 1991, while giving the verdict in the Babri Masjid case, gave hope that now all the disputes related to the temple-mosque in the country have been resolved forever. Despite that, this decision has come.
He said that we welcome the decision of the court. Our legal team will study on this and what steps are to be taken next, it will be decided.
The Muslim side is not yet saying clearly about challenging this decision in any higher court. But it is believed that this decision can be challenged in the Allahabad High Court.
What is the whole matter?
On 18 August 2021, five women filed a suit before the Civil Judge (Senior Division).
– The women demanded daily worship in the Shringar Gauri temple built next to the Gyanvapi mosque. On the demand of the women, Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar ordered a survey of the mosque premises.
On the orders of the court, the survey of Gyanvapi Masjid was done on 14, 15 and 16 May this year. After the survey, Hindu side’s lawyer Vishnu Jain claimed to have found a Shivling here. However, the Muslim side claimed that this is not a Shivling, but a fountain which is in every mosque.
After this, on May 20, the Supreme Court transferred the case from a civil judge to a district court judge. The court said that this matter is quite ‘complex’ and ‘sensitive’, so it would be better to hear it by a judge having experience of 25-30 years.