Gyanvapi Mosque Case: Court Rejects Petitions, Allows ‘Temple Restoration’ Suit

New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday rejected all petitions challenging civil suits that seek restoration of a temple at the Gyanvapi Mosque site and asked the Varanasi court to complete the hearing in one of these civil suits, filed in 1991, within six months.

The Gyanvapi mosque is located next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. The high court was hearing five petitions – three from the Gyanvapi Mosque committee and two from the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board. Three of these petitions challenged the maintainability of a suit filed before the Varanasi court in 1991.

What is the 1991 suit?

The 1991 suit, filed before the Varanasi court on behalf of the deity Adi Vishveswar Virajman, had sought control of the disputed premises and permission for worship there. It seeks the restoration of an ancient temple at the disputed site where the mosque is now located. It argues that the mosque is part of the temple. Challenging this suit, the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had argued that it is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which restricts altering the character of a religious place as it existed on August 15, 1947.

The petitioners of the 1991 suit had argued that the Gyanvapi dispute pre-dated Independence and did not come under the Places of Worship Act.

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said the 1991 suit is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Religious Worship Act, 1991. Justice Agarwal had on December 8 reserved his judgment after hearing the counsels of the petitioners and the respondent, NDTV reported.

The court said the mosque compound can have either a Muslim character or a Hindu character and this cannot be decided at the stage of framing issues. “The suit affects two major communities of the country… We direct the trial court to expeditiously decide the suit in 6 months,” the court said, according to the report.