The Allahabad High Court has permitted to withdraw the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking direction to the government of Uttar Pradesh for sealing the entire premise of Gyanvapi Mosque without affecting the ASI Survey order of the Varanasi Court that has been upheld by Supreme Court as well as Allahabad High Court.
The PIL filed through Advocate Saurabh Tiwary also seeks no entry for the non-Hindus at the disputed site.
The PIL was moved by the Chief of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS), Jitendra Singh Visen, Rakhi Singh (Plaintiff no. 1 in the Shringar Gauri Worshipping suit 2022) .
A bench led by Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker,along with Justice Ashutosh Srivastava,while hearing the case, asked the petitioners counsel as to how the Court could prohibit the entry of Non-Hindus into the temple.
The Chief justice also asked what makes the petitioner say that the non-Hindus would damage the Hindu signs and symbols.
The bench also said that the reliefs claimed in the PIL plea could very well be claimed in the suit itself which is pending before the Varanasi Court.
The counsel for the petitioners said that the prayers were different before the Varanasi Court.It was also argued that Right to pray had been sought in the Varanasi Court whereas the current PIL plea was that of protecting the artefacts related to Hindus.
Justice Srivastava said that the petitioners were already availing a remedy before the District Court and can amend the plaint there, and can file for injunction there.
Justice said that the petitioners counsel claimed that the Hindu structure was being damaged at the disputed site.
The court wondered how could the damage be caused when everything was being recorded and photographs were being taken of whatever artefacts were found.
Justice asked that how could anything be damaged or the records/ history would vanish.
The petitioner during the course of the hearing kept on insisting that there were photographs attached that someone was destroying the artefacts related to the Hindus, inside the mosque premises, however, the Counsel, despite the query of the Court, did not divulge details as to who was sending him photos, etc.
Further taking into account the submissions of the AAG Manish Goyal that the Court orders are being followed, the Court found no merits in the PIL plea and asked the Counsel for the petitioners to either withdraw the petition or get an order on merits.
Considering the court,the Counsel decided to withdraw it and hence, the PIL plea was dismissed as withdrawn.
The PIL plea was moved last week that the petitioners intended to save the centuries-old remains of Sri Adi Vishweshwar temple which at present is called Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi.
It also stated that sought protection of Shivlingam of Sri Adi Vishweshwar Virazmaan and other visible and invisible deities in the precinct of the temple.
The PIL plea claimed that at the disputed site (settlement Plot No. 9130 Ward and PS- Dashaswamedh, District Varanasi), a magnificent temple used to exist, wherein Lord Shiva, the Lord of Universe, himself established the “Jyotirlinga” lakhs of years ago, however, the said temple was damaged/destroyed in the year 1669 by “cruel Islamic” ruler Aurangzeb.
The PIL plea further stated that after destroying the said temple, Muslims unauthorizedly encroached into the temple premises and put a super structure which they call the “alleged Gyanwapi Mosque” even though the property was vesting in the deity and the same was not and could not be a Waqf Property.
“The original Jyotirlinga lies beneath the superstructure illegally and unauthorizedly raised by Muslims within the old temple complex (presently Gyanvapi Mosque). The Hindu devotees are not being allowed to have darshan of the deity within old temple complex.
The PIL sid that right of the petitioner(s) and devotees in general to worship within the old temple complex guaranteed by Article 25 of the Constitution of India is being continuously infringed.
The pooja and worship being performed by the Petitioner(s) and devotees remain incomplete without having darshan of Sri Adi Vishweshwara Jyotirlinga
It further contended that the disputed property has been vesting in the Deity since time immemorial and if any person or persons forcibly and without authority of law offer namaz within that property or at a particular place, the same cannot be called as mosque.
The petitioners also claimed that devotes like them have a right to worship Goddess Maa Srinagar Gauri at the asthan of Lord Adi Vishweshwar along with Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, Nandiji and other visible and invisible Deities within the old temple complex/disputed property.