Supreme Court to hear plea against survey at mosque complex today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a petition filed by the managing committee of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, challenging a survey of its premises ordered by a local court based on a plea that idols of some Hindu deities were present inside the premises.

The hearing will come on a day the Varanasi civil court is scheduled to receive the report of the survey. On Monday, the civil court sealed a section of the mosque complex after Hindu petitioners claimed that a “Shivling” was found on the premises.

The petition by the Anzuman Intezamia Masajid Committee was mentioned on Friday before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana but the apex court refused to order status quo as it was yet to read the petition. The matter will now be taken up on Tuesday by a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and PS Narasimha. The mosque committee argued the suit pending before the civil court violated the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which clamped status quo retrospectively on the character of places of worship as existing on August 15, 1947. Only the Ram Janmabhoomi-babri Masjid site in Ayodhya was kept out of the purview of the law.

GUWAHATI: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is engaged in infrastructure capacity enhancement across the international border in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army’s Eastern command chief said on Monday. General Officer Commandingin-chief of the Eastern command, Lt Gen R P Kalita, however, said India is also upgrading its infrastructure and capabilities to deal with any situation which may arise along the border. China has built border villages close to the Line of Actual Control that can be used for dual purposes, Kalita said.