Gyanvapi: Mosque’s challenge rejected

Varanasi : In a setback for the mosque committee in one of the cases involving Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea that requested it to scrap a civil suit being heard in a local court.

The lawsuit filed by a group of Hindu women worshippers seeking the right to pray in the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi was valid, the court ruled, allowing the case to continue in Varanasi District Court.

The litigants in the case - Lakshmi Devi, Rekha Pathak, Sita Sahu and Manju Vyas - had filed the case in August 2021 seeking the right to regularly worship goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities whose idols they claimed were located in the mosque’s complex.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid (AIM) Committee and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board had petitioned the high court to dismiss the case, arguing that it is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act of 1991 and the Central Waqf Act of 1995.

Their challenge was against the decision of the District Judge of Varanasi, who had previously dismissed their objection to the suit.

The Allahabad High Court, after hearing the arguments, had reserved its decision on December 23, 2022.

The case was one of the several spawned from a ruling in April 2021, when the Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a comprehensive survey of the mosque complex following a petition by Hindu groups.