Ccsd district wide survey

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is on Thursday set to resume hearing a plea of the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid which manages Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. In the prior hearing on Tuesday, the bench issued notices to the petitioner Hindu devotees while refusing to stay the ongoing proceedings before the lower court. An apex court bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and PS Narasimha passed the order to ensure the protection of the area inside the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex where ‘Shivling’ is said to be found in the survey.

The SC bench took up the matter at the fag end of the day’s scheduled cases listed for the day and directed the District Magistrate that Muslims be allowed to offer Namaz’.

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In the Tuesday hearing, the apex court stated that it needed to balance the rights of contesting parties and clarified that the order of the civil judge (senior division), hearing the plea of petitioner Hindu devotees, directing authorities to ensure the protection of the area would not restrict and impede the rights of Muslim to offer Namaz and to perform religious observances.

“This is an interim arrangement till counsel for the plaintiff is here. We need to balance the rights of contesting parties. The order of May 16, 2022, to the extent that DM, Varanasi shall ensure the protection of area where Shivling’ is said to be found will not impede upon the rights of the Muslims to offer Namaz’ and perform religious observances,” the bench said in its order, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the Gyanvapi mosque committee, stated that the Muslims need to perform ‘wazu’ or ablution as without that ‘namaz’ would have no meaning under Islam.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, submitted that though he is not a party to the civil suit the place where Shivling’ is said to be found is a place where Muslims perform wazu’ and any damage may create a law and order problem.

“They can perform ‘wazu’ somewhere else if it is necessary but the area where Shivling is said to be found needs protection,” the law officer said, as reported by PTI.

According to advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, a series of orders has been passed by the Civil judge which are unconstitutional, the latest of which was passed on Monday ordering the sealing of the area on an application by plaintiff’s lawyer Hari Shankar Jain in the ex-parte proceedings in which the survey report was yet to be filed.

He stated that since the top court is now seized of the matter, the entire proceedings before the civil judge needed to be stayed.

The bench, however, refused to stay the further proceedings before the civil judge and said, any judicial officer would understand the meaning of our orders. We don’t need to stay it.

Ahmadi claimed that under the garb of proceedings, the status quo of the religious place is sought to be altered as he sought for the orders of the civil court to be stayed, the court appointed commission to be stayed and status quo prior to the proceedings to be restored .

The Muslim side has been referring to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 and its Section 4 which bars filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.

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Gyanvapi Mosque Case: 3-Day Videography Survey

A court-mandated videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex took place in Varanasi on Monday, the team visited the site for the third consecutive day amid tight security. Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that “no details of the survey of Gyanvapi mosque were disclosed by any member of the commission.”

The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the local court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.

Sohan Lal Arya, a petitioner in the Gyanvapi mosque case said that the team found “conclusive evidence”, as he claimed that the survey committee found a Shivling at the complex.

“Shivling….Jiski Nandi pratiksha kar rahi thi… The moment things became clear, the chants of ‘Har Har Mahavdev’ resonated in mosque premises,” he claimed, as quoted by news agency ANI.

Following the claim, the Varanasi court ordered the District Magistrate of Varanasi, Kaushal Raj Sharma, “to seal the area where the Shivling was found and to bar people from going to the place.” In its order, the court stated that the DM, police commissioner, and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandant Varanasi will be responsible for the security of the sealed area.

(With Agency Inputs)

A commission appointed by a court in Varanasi to conduct a videographic survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex submitted its report on May 19, an advocate said.

Special Advocate Commissioner Vishal Singh submitted the report of the survey work carried out on May 14, 15 and 16 in the court of the District Civil Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, said advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is representing the Hindu side in the case.

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Also, Ajay Mishra, who was removed by the court as the advocate commissioner, filed a report late Wednesday evening on the survey conducted by him on May 6 and 7, Mr. Yadav said.

After removing Mishra on May 17 , the court had appointed Vishal Singh as the special advocate commissioner and Ajay Pratap Singh as the assistant advocate commissioner.

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The reconstituted commission had carried out the survey on May 14, 15 and 16.

The team that conducted a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque submitted its report Thursday to the Varanasi district court, which has now been asked by the Supreme Court not to proceed with hearing the case for another day.

The Supreme Court asked the trial court to put on hold its own proceedings till it takes up the matter again on Friday.

The top court had deferred its hearing as a counsel is ill.

The Varanasi court will now continue with 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.

Among the petitions now expected to be in heard in the civil court on May 23 is a petition, challenged by the mosque committee, seeking the removal of a wall between the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the adjacent Gyanvapi mosque.

The survey was ordered earlier by District Civil Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar while hearing the petition of a group of women seeking the right to worship daily the Hindu idols on the outer wall of the mosque.

Earlier this week, lawyers representing these petitioners claimed that a 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 ‘.

Special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh, assigned to lead the survey after another advocate was removed by the judge, said he has submitted documents, photographs and videos before the district court.

After being scuttled earlier, the survey was conducted on May 14, 15 and 16.

“I do not have the right to tell what is in the survey report. Now the court will take further action on it,” he told the media outside the Varanasi court on Thursday.

In the Supreme Court, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and P S Narashima was informed by advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain that lead counsel Hari Shankar Jain for the Hindu devotees was discharged from hospital on Wednesday, and was indisposed.

Appearing for the mosque management, senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi said several applications have been filed across the country to ‘seal’ various mosques.

In the Gyanvapi case in Varanasi, he added, the hearing is going on and an application has been filed to ‘demolish’ a wall around the ‘ wazookhana ‘.

Ahmadi said he cannot oppose an adjournment on the grounds of the health of a counsel but an undertaking should be given that Hindu devotees will not proceed with the civil court hearing.

The apex court then ordered the Varanasi court to put its proceedings on hold.

‘We accordingly direct the trial court to strictly act in terms of the above arrangement and to desist from taking up further proceedings in the suit in view of the consensus which has been arrived at between the parties,’ the court said.

The bench directed the listing of the matter before it on Friday at 3 pm.

In Varanasi, Abhay Yadav, the lawyer appearing for the Muslim side, said the Hindu petitioners want the court-appointed survey team to carry on with its proceedings by demolishing certain walls, ‘to which we have objected’.

“Also, a government counsel had demanded the removal of fish from a man-made pond located on the premises of the mosque. These fish are ours and we have raised our objection to this petition as well,” he said.

The two petitions were to be heard on Wednesday but the day’s proceedings were called off due to a lawyers’ strike.

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’.

The SC had said it needs to balance the rights of contesting parties.

The Muslim side has been referring to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 that bars the filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.

On Tuesday, the Varanasi civil court removed advocate commissioner Ajay Mishra for ‘irresponsible behaviour towards the discharge of his duties’ and granted time till Thursday to the survey team to file the report.

The removal order had come on an application moved by special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh who informed the court that Mishra had deployed a ‘personal cameraman’ was giving wrong information to the media on a regular basis.