Varenya Vaish
A case that began in the 1990s, resurfaced very prominently in 2022. The Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex case is a dispute in which the local priests sought permission to worship in the Gyanvapi mosque complex as they claimed it was built on the portion of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple that was demolished by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th Century.
Ongoing since 1991, this dispute pertaining to the Mosque, became dormant though pending, until the May of 2022 when after a civil suit filed by 5 Hindu devotees, the Supreme court decided to transfer the aforementioned from a civil judge to a district judge of the Varanasi court considering the sensitivity of the subject.
After the bench of the apex court consisting of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narasimha directed the district judge to decide the maintainability of the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC filed by the Mosque committee, the Varanasi court fixed a date for hearing the case.
On May 26th, as decided 2 days prior, the district court heard the maintainability petition put ahead by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that manages the Gyanvapi mosque which was followed by fixing 30th May as the next date of hearing in the case.
The arguments proceeded from the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s side on 30th May 2022, challenging the maintainability of the petition filed by five Hindu devotees seeking permission for extending their prayers to the deities in the Gyanvapi Shringar Gauri complex, to which the court gave the advocates of the parties pertaining to the case July 4th, 2022, as the next date for continuing the arguments.
Timeline of the Gyanvapi Mosque Case:
1991- The local Hindu Priests in the name of the deity ‘Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar’ filed a petition in the Varanasi Civil Court, seeking permission to pray in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The suit was filed on the basis of the claim that the mosque was built on the demolished area of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, as per the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1669. The Allahabad Court, on hearing the dispute, stayed further proceedings in the lower court in August 1998. The matter remained pending till December 2019.
December 2019– The case resurfaced in 2019 following the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya Ramjanambhoomi dispute. Post a suit filed by the advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi for seeking an archaeological survey of the site on the basis of the claim that it was built illegally, the Varanasi Court allowed the petition. The order where the Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ashutosh Tiwari directed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey and submit the report, was opposed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, that not only manages the Gyanvapi mosque, but also the Sunni Central Waqf Board.
As the matter was escalated by the Mosque committee, the Allahabad High Court took cognizance of the matter and ordered an interim stay on the direction given by the lower court to the ASI on conducting a survey of the Mosque site. The High court emphasized the provisions of the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) 1991, which said: “any change in the religious character of a place of worship from as it existed on August 15, 1947, is prohibited.”
March 2021- A Supreme Court bench headed by the former Chief Justice S A Bobde, decided to examine the substantiality of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The bench sought the Centre’s response on a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay that challenged the constitutional validity of the act. This was on the fact that the provisions of this act barred any litigation to take place when the dispute is about changing the character of a religious site from what it was at the time of independence.
August 2021– A petition was filed in the Varanasi court by 5 Hindu Devotees, seeking permission to worship the deities- Hanuman, Nandi, and Shringar Gauri, inside the Gyanvapi complex and also restrict people from causing damage to the idols.
September 2021– The Allahabad High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Prakash Padia, while staying the proceedings, said, “The court below should not have proceeded and decided the application filed by the plaintiffs in the Original Suit for survey by Archaeological Survey of India. In the opinion of the Court, the Court below should wait for the verdict in the petitions pending before this Court and not proceed further in the matter till the time a judgement is delivered.”
April 2022- Based on the August 2021 petition, the Varanasi court ordered an inspection of the site via a videography survey. Not only was the direction of the court for conducting a video graphics survey challenged by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee in the Allahabad High court, but the superior court as well upheld the order which led to the filing of a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court by the Committee.
May 14-16, 2022– The court-ordered video graphics survey was carried out inside the Gyanvapi Masjid complex where a shivling was allegedly found inside the well of the complex.
The Mosque committee alleged bias from the side of the court-appointed Commissioner of the Survey, Ajay Kumar Mishra and put forth that he conducted the survey on the site without the court’s assent. The claim was also complemented by the fact that the survey of the masjid complex is a violation of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
May 17th, 2022– The Supreme court gave an interim order for protecting the supposed “Shivling” found in the well by sealing the Wazu Khana also known as the ablution pond and also allowing the Muslims to access the mosque for offering namaz.
On the same day, the Varanasi civil court struck down Advocate-Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra from the panel that was formed to survey the mosque.
May 20th, 2022- The Supreme Court transferred the proceedings related to this dispute to a district judge, saying that a more ‘seasoned hand’ should deal with the case as well as directed the district court to decide on the maintainability of the Order 7 Rule 11 CPC application filed by the Anjuman Islamia committee.
May 24th, 2022– The Varanasi Court decided to hear the Order 7 Rule 11 application filed by the Mosque Committee dealing with the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women on May 26.
May 26th, 2022– The district court heard the maintainability petition put ahead by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, however, the Mosque committee’s side of the arguments on the maintainability of the case had remained incomplete which is why 30th May had been fixed as the next date of hearing.