Security beefed up following the court's verdict in the case of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex survey in Varanasi, Thursday, May 12, 2022.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant an interim order of status quo on the video survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex near the famed Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. The top court, however, agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid premises.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Varanasi district court's order that allowed an advocate commissioner to conduct a video survey at the Gyanvapi mosque near the famed Kashi Vishwanath temple. The appeal by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, the Gyanvapi Masjid committee, was mentioned by senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi before Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana seeking urgent listing.
“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.
He said the direction to conduct a survey has been passed and the order of status quo be passed at the moment.
The CJI said that he will examine the petition and documents and list it. "I have no idea about this case. Let me look at the papers. We will list it," the CJI said.
The Varanasi district court had on Thursday rejected a plea by the mosque committee to replace the advocate commissioner it had appointed for conducting a video survey. The court, however, appointed two more lawyers to help the advocate commissioner carry out the survey at the mosque. The court even ordered police to register FIRs if there are attempts to scuttle the exercise and directed that it be finished by May 17.
Gyanvapi Masjid Case
Petitions were filed in a local court in Varanasi in August 2021 seeking permission for daily darshan and poojan at Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal. The court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Varanasi, Ravi Kumar Diwakar, had on April 26 this year ordered videography by the advocate commissioner of the temple in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque complex and other places after Eid.
The court had appointed advocate Ajai Kumar to conduct a survey and inspection. The court had asked the advocate commissioner to submit a report before the next hearing on May 10.
According to the court's directions, videography and survey were to be conducted inside the mosque premises on May 6 and 7. The court had said that besides the advocate commissioner and parties, one associate can remain present during the proceedings. When the survey team arrived at the mosque on May 6, the members had to face massive protests by the Muslims who opposed the court's order. The survey was done amid tight security on the first day. However, the exercise was halted by the administration temporarily on the next day owing to protests.
According to Muslims, the advocate commissioner had tried to get videography done inside the Gyanvapi mosque without orders. The counsel for the mosque management committee had earlier contended that the court had not given any order to do the videography inside the mosque but to do it only till the 'chabutra' (courtyard) outside the barricades enclosing the mosque area.
Gyanvapi Masjid case: Varanasi court orders to conduct video survey again, sets May 17 as deadline
