The Supreme Court last week shifted the trial of a suit by Hindu parties seeking enforcement of their right to worship inside Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque from civil judge (senior division) to the district judge, even as it observed that the survey of a structure to ascertain its religious nature is not barred under the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1991.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and P S Narasimha said whether Hindus can be allowed to worship at Gyanvapi mosque involved complex and sensitive issues that needed to be dealt with a seasoned judicial hand and ordered the Varanasi district judge to decide on priority the plea of Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, Varanasi, under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), challenging maintainability of the suit by five Hindu women seeking to worship Goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities inside mosque complex. Appearing for the mosque management, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi repeatedly argued that the SC should scrap the suit and interim orders by the trial court, including the direction for survey, as it was a “mischievous” attempt by plaintiffs to change the character of the mosque existing for the last 500 years.
"Look at the mischief being perpetrated through selective leak of the court commissioner's survey report. Now the mischief is being created for four to five other mosques. This disturbs communal harmony," Ahmadi said.
Survey report likely to endorse ‘shivling’ claim
The court-appointed commission tasked with surveying the Gyanvapi mosque complex submitted to Varanasi civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar a 15-page report along with 32GB of video footage and photographs, and a sheaf of maps packed in three sealed boxes. In adherence to a directive from the Supreme Court, which is hearing a petition challenging the survey, the civil judge didn't pass any order.
While the contents of the report possibly won't be known until at least the next hearing in the Shringar Gauri worship case, sources linked to the survey claimed several objects found while scanning the inner sanctum of the complex over three days appeared to be part of old temple architecture.
Sources said, “First he said 20 years and then 12,” the sources said. “A half-inch thick white layer was found on top of the cylindrical structure. A thin hole of 63cm depth was noticed at the centre. Despite repeated search, no provision for attaching a pipe to supply water to the fountain was found.”
They said the distance between the “shivling-like structure” and the idol of Nandi on the Kashi Vishwanath temple’s side was 83 feet and 3 inches. The survey team also recorded, among other things, symbols resembling the swastika, a trishul, damru, betel leaves, bells, designated places to keep earthen lamps and idols of deities, and mandaps for rituals, the sources said.
