Varanasi's Gyanvapi Case: Supreme Court To Hear The Case Today

Varanasi court will continue its hearing on May 23.

Ahead of the Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque case, the Supreme Court will hear the issue today, Just a day after it asked the city court not to proceed with hearing the case until it takes up the matter again on Friday.

According to the officials, the Varanasi court will now continue its hearing on May 23, a counsel representing the Hindu petitioners said. The counsel for the mosque management committee said both sides filed their “objections and counter-objections” before the trial court on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the lawyers representing these petitioners claimed that Shivling was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex. The claim was disputed by the mosque committee members who said it was part of the water fountain mechanism in the wazookhana reservoir, used by devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering namaz. The district court had then ordered the sealing of the ‘wazookhana'.

The Supreme Court had directed the Varanasi court on Tuesday to ensure the protection of the area where the Shivling is claimed to have been found, but without impeding “religious observances”.

Taking notes from the case, the report of the filming of Varanasi's Gyanvapi Masjid was submitted in court today in a case involving Hindu petitioners requesting access to worship what they claim are idols of Hindu gods and goddesses inside the mosque complex.

A copy of the report, submitted in a sealed envelope, was shared by the lawyers of the petitioners hours later and it appears to back their claims of the presence of Hindu idols and symbols inside the Gyanvapi mosque.

The report shared by the petitioners says symbols of a "Trishul" or trident, lotus engravings and ancient Hindi carvings have been found in the video survey of the mosque complex that is right next to the iconic Kashi-Vishwanath temple.