Today, On 4th September, In the Gyanvapi case, a Varanasi court scheduled the next hearing for September 6 regarding a plea for an ASI survey. The Hindu side argues that the original location of the Jyotirlinga is beneath the central dome of the disputed mosque within the Gyanvapi complex.
Varanasi: A judge scheduled the next hearing for September 6 on a petition seeking an ASI survey of the remaining sections of the Gyanvapi complex, according to a lawyer on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Muslim side were present in court and expected to present their arguments at the next hearing. The Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court, Jugal Shambhu, set the new date after hearing from the Hindu side, as confirmed by advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, representing the Hindu side in the case.
Yadav stated that the Hindu side argued that the original location of the Jyotirlinga lies beneath the dome in the center of the disputed mosque within the Gyanvapi complex. He also mentioned that geographical water used to flow continuously from the ‘Argha‘ and collected in the Gyanvapi Kund, a waterbody believed to grant knowledge to those who drank from it. This is why the site is considered a pilgrimage known as ‘Gyanudaya Tirtha.’
The Hindu side’s lawyers have requested that water experts, geologists, and archaeologists explore this water source and examine the structure found at Gyanvapi, which the Muslim side claims is a ‘wuzukhana,’ to determine whether it is a ‘Shivling‘ or a fountain.
The court’s decision will be closely watched, as it could set a precedent for how such religiously sensitive disputes are handled in the future
The Gyanvapi mosque management committee approached the Supreme Court to challenge a ruling by the Allahabad High Court, which permitted Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. The committee, known as the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, filed the plea in response to the High Court’s decision on February 26.
The High Court dismissed the committee’s plea contesting a district court order from January 31 that allowed Hindu worship in the mosque’s cellar. In its ruling, the High Court declared the Uttar Pradesh government’s 1993 ban on worship rituals inside the “Vyas Tehkhana” as illegal. It also rejected the mosque management committee’s appeals against a Varanasi district judge’s orders appointing the District Magistrate as the receiver of the “Vyas Tehkhana” and allowing puja (worship) to be performed there.
The High Court further ordered the continuation of worship activities in the “Vyas Tehkhana,” which is situated adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
According to a survey conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India, the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on the remains of a Hindu temple.
Currently, the Hindu prayers in the mosque’s southern cellar are being led by a priest appointed by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust, along with petitioner Shailendra Kumar Pathak. Pathak’s maternal grandfather, Somnath Vyas, had also performed prayers in the cellar until December 1993.
Pathak claimed that worship was halted during the tenure of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
During the trial court proceedings, the Muslim side disputed the petitioner’s account, denying the existence of idols in the cellar and challenging the petitioner’s claim of control over the basement during British rule.