Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute: Varanasi court allows ASI to undertake survey
The court further directed the Uttar Pradesh government to bear the cost of the survey
A civil court in Varanasi on Thursday gave its approval for survey of Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi Mosque complex by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The court further directed the Uttar Pradesh government to bear the cost of the survey.
The order was issued after a petition was filed by a local lawyer VS Rastogi who had demanded that the land entailing the Gyanvapi Mosque be restored to Hindus. The petitioner claimed that Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1664 pulled down a portion of the 2000-year-old Kashi Vishwanath temple to build the mosque in its place. The Gyanvyapi Mosque management committee had opposed the petition.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta upheld the Bombay High Court order for a CBI probe, saying the dramatis personae Mr. Deshmukh and Mumbai Police ex-chief Param Bir Singh involved and the seriousness of the allegations require investigation by an independent agency.
A local court in Varanasi has directed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque compound adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple to find out whether it was a “superimposition, alteration or addition or there is structural overlapping of any kind, with or over, any other religious structure”.
SC to hear plea to declare Ram Sethu as national heritage monument on April 26 ANI | Updated: Apr 08, 2021 22:42 IST
New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday said that on April 26 it will hear a plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy seeking direction to the Centre to declare Ram Sethu a national heritage monument.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said, Let next CJI (Justice NV Ramana) deal with this issue. I do not have so much time. This issue requires time and I do not have it.
Chief Justice Bobde, who is retiring on April 23, told Swamy who submitted that the issue is pending for long time and urgent hearing is required.
Varanasi Court orders ASI probe into Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute
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The court especially called for the committee so formed to be aware of the “sensitivity of the matter” and hence ensure that stakeholders in the case belonging to both religions are equally respected and no one is treated in a “partisan or preferential” way.
A case is being separately heard by the high court in which the Muslim side had said that the Places of Worship Act applies to the disputed site and bars any alteration to a place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
Gyanwapi mosque: Sunni Waqf Board to challenge Varanasi court order
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Last Updated: Apr 08, 2021, 11:09 PM IST
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The order, given by a senior division civil court, asked the state government to get the disputed premises examined by a five-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at its expense.
Agencies The Places of Worship Act was upheld by a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya judgment. The status of the Gyanwapi mosque is, as such, beyond question, Waqf Board chairperson Zufar Ahmad Farooqui said.
The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board said on Thursday that it would challenge in the high court the Varanasi court order on the disputed premises claimed both by the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Gyanwapi mosque.