Gyanvapi Mosque: Hearing to change commissioner begins

VARANASI: A Varanasi court on Monday began hearing the Gyanvapi mosque management committee’s plea to change the court commissioner appointed to conduct a videographic survey of the mosque adjacent to the Shringar Gauri temple here.

Advocate Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was appointed by the court as its commissioner, too pleaded for more time to complete the court-mandated survey at the Shringar Gauri temple-gyanvapi mosque complex. After hearing inconclusive arguments from the two sides, Varanasi’s Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar listed the matter for further hearing on Tuesday.

Judge Diwakar had ordered the survey earlier on a plea by five Delghi women seeking the court’s permission to perform daily worships of idols of some deities located on the western wall of the mosque.

The mosque management committee, represented by advocate Abhay Nath Yadav, has approached the court for the appointment of another advocate as the court commissioner, accusing the present one of favouring Hindu petitioners in his court-mandated task.

Court commissioner Mishra and lawyers representing both the Hindu and Muslim sides had on Saturday gone inside the Gyanvapi-shringar Gauri temple complex.

Despite spending nearly two hours inside the complex, they had not been able to accomplish the work and had to come out of the complex.

Counsel Vishnu Jain, representing the five Delhi women, too had gone inside the complex with Mishra on Saturday.