The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Gyanvapi management committee challenging an Allahabad High Court ruling that allowed lawsuits seeking the “restoration” of a temple beneath the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. The apex court, led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, decided to combine this appeal with the main case. The plea was filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, the committee responsible for managing the Gyanvapi mosque.
Last year, on December 19, the Allahabad High Court rejected petitions questioning the validity of a 1991 lawsuit seeking the “restoration” of a temple situated beneath the Gyanvapi mosque. The court asserted that it is within its purview to determine the “religious character” of a contested site. The High Court dismissed five interconnected petitions over the years, including those challenging the lawsuit’s admissibility and contesting a survey of the mosque premises, filed by the mosque committee and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.
The Allahabad High Court clarified that the lawsuit, filed before the district court, is not prohibited by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which prohibits altering the “religious character” of a site from its status on August 15, 1947. The suit aimed to secure the right to worship within the Gyanvapi mosque, situated next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Muslim litigants had contested its admissibility, citing the aforementioned act.
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