Varanasi: On May 26, the Varanasi district court, which is hearing the civil litigation over the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Viswanath temple complex issue, will hear the Muslim side’s Order 7 Rule 11 application to dismiss the Hindu side’s civil complaint claiming claim on the Gyanvapi mosque.
Meanwhile, the judge has requested both Hindu and Muslim objections to the Advocate Commissioner’s survey report on the Gyanvapi mosque. The court was set to rule on whether to allow objections to the survey report or hold a hearing on the Masjid committee’s Order 7 Rule 11 application first on Tuesday. The Masjid committee claims the litigation is forbidden under the Places of Worship Act, while the Hindu petitioners contend that the survey report should be taken into account.
The Varanasi court started hearing the case on Monday after the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the transfer of the pending proceedings to the District Judge, Varanasi, for “trial and all interlocutory and ancillary proceedings”.
Early last week, lawyers representing Hindu petitioners claimed that a ‘Shivling’ was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
The 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’.
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