NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Supreme Court on Friday directed continuation of the protection till further orders of the area reportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises in Varanasi.
A Special Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant and PS Narasimha further allowed the Hindu parties to approach the Varanasi District Court for consolidation of all suits concerning the Gyanvapi dispute.
The dispute started from five Hindu women moving a civil suit in a Varanasi court seeking a judicial declaration of their right to offer worship to deities they claimed were present in the mosque site. The court had ordered a survey to be done by an Advocate Commissioner. The survey led discovery of a structure the Hindus claimed “Shivling” and the Muslim opponents counter-claimed to be part of a fountain. In May, the Supreme Court had transferred the case to the ‘seasoned hands’ of the Varanasi District Judge for adjudication.
On May 17, the apex court had ordered that the area around the shivling be protected while allowing Muslims to offer namaaz in the mosque. The protection was extended for eight more weeks on September 12 when the district court dismissed the maintainability plea of the Muslim parties adding that the suit was not barred by the Places of Worship Act while a criminal revision petition was pending in the Allahabad High Court.
On Friday, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, for the Hindu parties, informed the court that the eight weeks was expiring on November 12 and sought an extension of the protection which was granted by the apex court.
(Manas Dasgupta)