Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Court to hear Hindu side plea on Muslim entry bar
VARANASI: A plea to bar Muslims from entering the Gyanvapi Masjid complex is maintainable, a local Varanasi court said on Thursday, overruling objections by the management of the mosque and saying it will hear the case.
The petition — filed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS), a Hindutva outfit – on May 24,2022, demanded three things: That the site where a disputed structure was found (Hindus claim it is a shivling and Muslims say it’s a ritual ablution fountain) be handed over to Hindus, Hindu devotees be allowed worshipping rites and Muslims be barred from entering.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC), which manages the 17th-century mosque, objected to the plea and said that the petition violated a 1991 law that froze the religious character of religious sites as they were on August 15, 1947.
But the fast track (senior division) court rejected this argument. To be sure, this only means that the arguments of both sides will be heard by the court.
“The application 37 C filed by the defendant no 4 under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC is hereby dismissed,” the court said.
“The fast track court of civil judge (senior division) Mahendra Pandey ruled that the case is maintainable in the court of law.
It has rejected the application moved by the AIMC under Order 7 Rule 11 of Civil Procedure Code (CPC),” said Man Bahadur Singh, a lawyer for the Hindu group.
Order 7, Rule 11 empowers a court to summarily reject a suit at the very beginning without proceeding to record the evidence or conduct a trial if it is against set grounds.
The case will be next heard on December 2.
Kiren Singh Bisen, general secretary of VVSS welcomed the order. “I truly respect and appreciate the judgment. It’s indeed a first step of victory for us,” he said.
Raes Ahmed, a lawyer representing AIMC, said, “We will file a revision before the district judge, challenging the order.”
To be sure, this is one of a raft of ongoing cases linked to the Gyanvapi Masjid complex.
The Varanasi district court is hearing what many consider is the main legal proceeding, involving a plea by five Hindu women seeking the rights to regularly worship deities installed inside the complex.
It is while hearing this case that a lower court ordered a survey earlier this year, which immediately sparked a controversy.
On the last day of the exercise, Hindu groups claimed that a shivling was found on the premises, though Muslims dispute this claim.
Overall there are five cases related to Gyanvapi mosque are pending in the court.
The VVSS is either plaintiff or represents the plaintiff in all 5 cases. According to Bisen, three cases are pending in Varanasi Civil court, one is in the fast track court Varanasi and one is in the Varanasi district court.
“Four cases were filedin 2021 and one was filed in 2022,” said Bisen. This also includes the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case that is in Varansi’s district court in which Bisen is a parokar(representative) of Rakhi Singh, the main plaintiff (among four other women) in the case, filled to seek permission for daily worship at Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal located on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi complex.
The Supreme Court on November 11 extended its earlier order to protect the area where the ‘Shivling’-like structure was stated to be discovered inside the mosque complex.