On May 16, 2022, a Varanasi court ordered to immediately seal the place where the shivling has been found within the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The court further said that no one should be allowed within the sealed area.
Petitioners
- Five Hindu women had filled a case in a Varanasi court, demanding access and the right to offer daily prayers at the Hindu site Maa Shringar Gauri located outside the western wall of the Gyanvapi mosque.
- As per the petition, Shivling is found in masjid complex at the place where waju khana is there.
- The court appointed a committee to survey and videography of basements in the Gyanvapi-Gauri Shringar complex and asked it to submit the report by May 10.
- The court, on May 12, ordered the committee to continue the survey and submit the report by May 17.
- The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee moved the Supreme Court on May 13 seeking a stay on the survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi Masjid complex. The Supreme Court declined to stay the survey but listed the case for hearing.
- The three-day survey, conducted on the order of the court, of the complex being done by the Commission concluded on May 16, with officials saying that the findings of the survey were “confidential”.
Origin of controversy
- The Gyanvapi Masjid is located near the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi.
- Mughal ruler Aurangzeb built the Gyanvapi mosque in the 17th century by demolishing the temple.
- According to historian Audrey Truschke’s book ‘Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth’ the Gyanvapi masjid was built during Aurangzeb’s reign.
- She writes that the masjid incorporates the old Viswanath temple structure—destroyed on Aurangzeb’s orders—as its qibla wall (a significant wall facing the Maccah).
- The Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath dispute first reached the courts in 1991.
- A petition sought the removal of the mosque from the site and the transfer of possession of the land to the Hindu community.
- The petitioners, which included the Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar, the main deity of the temple, claimed that Maharaja Vikramaditya had built the temple more than 2,000 years ago and that the mosque was only constructed in 1664 after Mughal ruler Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the temple.
- The petitioners alleged that the Gyanvapi mosque was built on a portion of the land using the ruins of the temple, saying that remains of the old temple could still be seen adjacent to the mosque.
Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991
- The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 declares under Section 4 that the religious character of a place of worship existing on the 15th day of August 1947, shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day.
- It further provides that any suit or proceeding filed with respect to the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship existing on August 15, 1947, is not maintainable and if pending, would abate.
- The only exception created to this rule is the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
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