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a medical condition. Jain added that the petitioners shall not press for a hearing before the Varanasi civil court on Thursday where a report on the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque was expected to be submitted by the advocate commissioner.

Besides, senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared for the mosque committee, claimed that the Hindu petitioners also moved a fresh plea on Thursday for demolishing a wall around a site where they claimed a “Shivling” was found.

Ahmadi, who represented the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, pressed for a stay of the proceedings before the Varanasi civil judge if the SC were to adjourn the hearing. “There are applications filed even for sealing of other mosques. I would only submit that there should not be any further delay...my only apprehension is that today an application has been moved before the trial court to demolish the wall near the wazukhaana (ablution tank where the Shivling has been purportedly sighted),” he argued.

At this point, Jain assured the bench that the Hindu petitioners will not proceed with the case before the Varanasi court until the SC hears the matter on Friday. Taking on record the consensus between the two sides, the SC directed that the Varanasi civil court will hold its hands for a day and fixed the case for a hearing on Friday at 3 pm.

Later in the day, the Hindu petitioners filed an affidavit in response to the mosque committee’s petition in the SC, which demanded a stay of the proceedings before the civil judge. The affidavit maintained that Gyanvapi can’t be a valid mosque in Islam since “Islamic ruler Aurangazeb” did not create a waqf by dedicating the property to the God.

The plaintiffs claimed that the site is the property of Adi Vishweshwar, since thousands of years before the Islamic rule in India and that Aurangzeb forcibly took its possession. “This does not give the right to the property to the Muslims...hindus have been following their rituals, circumambulating at the same place for centuries,” added the affidavit.

“This land does not belong to any Muslim, body or Muslim or waqf, it further said.

On Tuesday, the SC ordered that the section of mosque complex where a “Shivling” was ostensibly found shall remain protected until further orders but Muslims will have the right to offer namaz without any hindrance.

“If a Shivling is found, we have to maintain a balance. We will direct the district magistrate to ensure protection of the place without restricting Muslims from entering and offering namaz”, the bench had then said, as it heard the petition by the mosque committee.

In its plea, the mosque committee demanded a stay of the proceedings before the Varanasi civil judge, on whose orders a day-to-day survey was carried out to inspect, conduct videography, and collect evidence regarding the alleged existence of idols of Hindu deities inside the mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The committee also complained that the civil court order of Monday seemed to impose a complete ban on the entry of Muslims in the mosque premises and from offering namaz there.

The bench, however, did not entertain the request to suspend the proceedings before the Varanasi court until the SC decides the committee’s challenge to the validity of the survey. “We have protected the spot where the Shivling was found. And we have clarified that this will not restrict the rights of Muslims. We think this is a balance...this is an interim arrangement,” the court told Ahmadi, who complained that the status quo has been disturbed by the Monday order of the civil court by sealing a section of the mosque after the claimed finding of the “Shivling”.

Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta appeared in the case for the UP government on Tuesday, and clarified that the state and its officials were only acting as per the orders of the civil court

In its appeal before the SC, the committee argued that the suit filed by the five Hindu women, demanding an unhindered right to worship a Hindu goddess’s shrine located behind the western wall of the mosque complex, is barred by the provisions of the Places of Worship Act, 1991. and triggering a power crisis in recent weeks. In the northern part of the country, the typical spring season was virtually erased by an early onset of summer that began in March.

These events, especially the record-breaking heatwave, have been over 100 times more likely because of the climate crisis, a UK Met Office study released on Wednesday said. April and May 2010 saw the highest combined average temperature in the region since 1900, the study said. So now, the Office conducted an attribution study to estimate the chances of exceeding the recordbreaking temperature witnessed in April and May in 2010.

“Spells of heat have always been a feature of the region’s pre-monsoon climate during April and May. However, our study shows that climate change is driving the heat intensity of these spells making recordbreaking temperatures 100 times more likely. By the end of the century increasing climate change is likely to drive temperatures of these values on average every year,” said Nikos Christidis, who produced the Met

SC GYANVAPI

Office attribution study.

But south of the country, there are signs that offer some long term relief. Monsoon winds have strengthened touching Sri Lanka on Thursday, nearly a week in advance and the conditions are favourable for the system to advance further into some more parts of south and central Bay of Bengal, and some parts of South Arabian Sea, during next two days, the IMD has said. “Monsoon is touching the Kerala coast. It’s likely to cover most parts of South Arabian Sea during the next two days. So it is moving slightly earlier than normal,” said M Mohapatra, director general, IMD.

The monsoon typically arrives in the southern-most tip of the country in the first week of June, but is expected to make landfall on May 26. “Pre-monsoon showers are very strong over Kerala and Karnataka also because a cyclonic circulation is lying near Karnataka. It is just short of a low-pressure area... monsoon will arrive 4-5 days in advance over Kerala,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate and meteorology, Skymet Weather.