A challenge by Muslim petitioners was rejected by the judge…
Varanasi/Lucknow: On Thursday, 22 September 2022, Varanasi's senior most judge will hear the Gyanvapi case, few days after ruling that a plea by five Hindu women to pray year-long at a shrine inside the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, next to the famous Kashi Viswanath temple, is now legally valid.
In a September 12 order, the Varanasi court said the petitioners were not asking to "convert" the mosque into a temple but a right to "worship" at the "disputed" property all year round.
Under a law made in 1991, places of worship should be allowed to exist as they were on August 15, 1947. The Babri Masjid case was the exception.
A challenge by Muslim petitioners, mainly the mosque administrators, who wanted the petition thrown out, was rejected by the judge, who said the petition has no legal merit.
The Muslim petitioners have now filed an application seeking 8 weeks to prepare for the case before it is heard further. The lawyers for the Hindu women say they will ask for a fresh survey at the mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Last year, a lower court in Varanasi had ordered the filming of the centuries-old mosque based on the petition of the women.
The videography report, controversially leaked by the Hindu petitioners, claimed that a "Shivling" or relic of Lord Shiva had been found in a pond within the mosque complex used for "Wazoo" or purification rituals before Muslim start their prayers.
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