The fast-track court of Varanasi that heard the petitions on Monday, seeking a ban on the entry of Muslims in the Gyanvapi mosque area has fixed July 8 as the next date of hearing on the application.
During the day the fast court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Mahendra Kumar Pandey who heard the application,had reserved its order till 4 pm.
During the hearing, respondent counsel Abhay Nath Yadav, asked for the copy of the application.
Hearing was held on the maintainability of original plea that whether permission for regular worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal and other places inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex should be given or not on Monday.
During hearing the counsels of the Muslim side read out their arguments on the plaint filed by Rakhi Singh and others.
“The court has fixed July 4 as the next date of hearing. The court will also decide whether the copy and CD of the videography survey of the Gyanvapi complex should be given on not today itself,” Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel of the Hindu side said.
It may be mentioned here that on a Special Leave Petition the Supreme Court has directed the District Judge Varanasi to hear the case on maintainability on priority basis.
The apex court said that the District Judge should examine the maintainability of suit on priority as sought by the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Varanasi. The Intezamia Committee has sought direction that the plaint should not be heard under Order VII Rule 11 of Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).
The petition was filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey which states that the property belongs to the official deity and no amount of namaz or illegal possession can take its place.
The petition, filed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, was taken up by 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 petition seeks permission for the worship of Shivling that was founds the mosque complex . It also requests that the Adi Vishveshwara should be declares as the official owner of Gyanvapi mosque.The right for pray should also be granted to the Hindus.
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.”
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.
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.