Hearing in Gyanvapi case resumes today

VARANASI: The hearing on the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s plea challenging the maintainability of a lawsuit filed by Hindu women seeking permission for daily worship inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises will resume in Varanasi district court on Monday.

On May 30, district judge AK Vishvesh had posted the matter for further hearing on July 4.

The Muslim side has argued against the maintainability of the plea. Abhay Nath Yadav, one of the lawyers of the mosque committee, had presented arguments in court for about two hours.

Akhlaque Ahmad, another lawyer of the committee, said the five Hindu women have filed the case in an individual capacity and this does not represent the entire Hindu community. The lawsuit was therefore not maintainable, Ahmad had argued.

“We are ready with our arguments,” Shivam Gaur, an advocate for petitioner Rakhi Singh, said on Sunday. “We will present them in the court after advocates for the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee complete their submission.”

The Muslim side had argued that the plea was not maintainable as the Places of Worship Act, 1991, prohibits conversion of any place of worship, and mandates maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship, as on August 15, 1947.

After the lawsuit was filed, a lower court had ordered a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, and the Hindu side had claimed that a Shivling was found during the exercise.

“We have many arguments to prove that the case is maintainable,” said Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, one of the advocates for the Hindu petitioners.