A fresh petition was filed today which asked seeks ban on the entry of the Muslims in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex today. This petition was transferred from the court of the civil judge to a fast-track court in Varanasi. The plea will now be taken up on Monday (May30) by the fast-track court judge.
The petition, has been filed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh in the court of civil judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar on Tuesday,. The petition also seeks permission for Hindus to worship the “Shivling” purportedly found in the mosque complex.
The petition by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh was taken up by the Civil judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, who had also heard the Gyanvapi mosque case before it was transferred to district judge Ajay Kumar Vishevesh by the Supreme Court on Friday after understanding the complexity of the issue.
The district Judge A K Vishevesh had to decide on priority, the issue of ‘maintainability’ in the case as sought by the mosque committee. The committee had said that the right to worship inside the mosque, and the court-ordering filming of mosque, are both illegal.
The Supreme court had in its order said that “status quo inside the mosque complex would remain in operation pending the disposal of the mosque committee’s plea, and “thereafter for a period of eight weeks so as to enable any party which is aggrieved by the order of the District Judge to pursue its rights and remedies in accordance with the law.”
The district judge A K Vishevesh, who at current is hearing the case as directed by the Supreme Court has fixed May 26 for a hearing on the maintainability issue.
A week’s time has been given by court to both Hindu and Muslim sides to file objections to the report of court-mandated filming at the mosque.
Lawyers representing Hindu petitioners had last week claimed that a “Shivling” was found during the filming of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, however this claim was disputed by the mosque committee members who said it was part of the water fountain mechanism in the wazookhana reservoir, used by devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering namaz. The district court had then ordered the sealing of the wazookhana.
On May 17, the Supreme Court had directed the Varanasi court to ensure the protection of the area where the “Shivling” as claimed by Hindus was found, without obstructing the Muslim community’s right to worship.