NEW DELHI, May 20: The Supreme Court on Friday has ordered that the claims of the Hindu petitioners over the existence of Hindu idols and remains at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque would be heard by a “more experienced” judge in Uttar Pradesh.
With this the case would move out of the local court hearing it so far. It would be “better if a more seasoned hand hears the case”, said the SC judges, stressing on the need for “a healing touch and a sense of balance.” “Keeping the complexity and sensitivity of the matter in view, the civil suit before the civil judge in Varanasi shall be heard before a senior and experienced judicial officer of the UP judicial service,” the Supreme Court ruled. It would be “better if a more seasoned hand” hears the case, a three-judge bench said. The “need for fraternity between communities and the need for peace is topmost” for the court, said the judges during arguments.
Varanasi’s senior-most judge will now hear the petition of five Hindu women requesting permission to worship what they claim are Hindu idols at the Gyanvapi mosque, which stands next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in one of India’s oldest and holiest cities. The report of a video survey ordered by the civil judge was submitted on Thursday in three sealed boxes and a chip with hundreds of video clips and photographs. The contents of the materials in the sealed boxes, however, were “leaked” to the media within hours by the advocates of the Hindu petitioners claiming clear evidences that the mosque was built over a temple.
The filming inside the centuries old mosque was challenged by the Gyanvapi mosque committee before the Supreme Court. The Muslim petitioners said the filming goes against the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as of August 15, 1947. “Such petitions and sealing of mosques will lead to public mischief and communal disharmony, will affect mosques across the country,” argued the mosque committee.
The Supreme Court also took a stern view of “selective leaks” to the press and said they must stop. This comes after Hindu petitioners released details of the mosque filming report just hours after it was handed over to a Varanasi court in a sealed cover on Thursday. “Selective leaks must stop. Things being leaked into the press. It was to be submitted in court. The court has to open it,” Justice DY Chandrachud said. The Supreme Court extended its interim order on protecting the “Shivling” area without stopping Muslims from praying at the mosque.
“The district Judge will be hearing both the pleas now. The plea by Hindus seeking a right to worship in the area of the mosque which has the deity, as well as the petition from the Muslim side that opposes our plea and the videographic survey,” said Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindus, after the ruling.
On Friday morning, the Gyanvapi mosque committee sent out an appeal asking people not to come in large numbers because there were no arrangements for Wazoo. The mosque committee members stood outside and diverted devotees to smaller mosques.
(Manas Dasgupta)
