On Tuesday, the Allahabad High Court dismissed all Muslim petitions contesting the Hindus’ request to be allowed to pray at the Gyanvapi mosque. The Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed the applications in relation to the ownership dispute between Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque and Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The court denied three petitions challenging a 2021 ASI survey decision and two challenging the maintainability of a 1991 legal complaint brought by Hindu devotees that was pending before a Varanasi court. Justice Rohit Ranjan Aggarwal’s one-judge panel also requested that the lower court wrap up its hearing on the case in six months.
The High Court further declared that the survey might be repeated and the results could be brought before the Varanasi court if anything was missed.
The Muslim side had contested both the Varanasi court’s 2021 decision for an ASI survey in the mosque complex and the civil petition that sought the right to worship. They had claimed that the Places of Worship Act of 1991 prohibited the civil lawsuit.
The Hindu side, meanwhile, said in their civil suit that the Gyanvapi mosque is a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
During the hearing, the High Court said that the 1991 civil suit is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Worship Act.
