In a crucial judgment in the Gyanvapi case, the Allahabad High Court today rejected all petitions by the mosque committee challenging civil suits that seek restoration of a temple at the mosque site. The high court asked the Varanasi court to complete hearing in one of these civil suits, filed in 1991, within six months.
Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal has ruled that the 1991 suit is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Religious Worship Act, 1991. The judgment was reserved on December 8 after hearing the counsels of the petitioners and the respondent¹.
The Gyanvapi Case suit pending before the Varanasi court 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. The court today 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.
The Gyanvapi case is a legal dispute over the ownership of the land on which the Gyanvapi mosque stands in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The case has been ongoing since 1991, when a civil suit was filed seeking the restoration of an ancient temple at the disputed site where the mosque is now located. The suit argues that the mosque is part of the temple.
