Gyanvapi case files shifted to District Court after SC’s order

On Saturday, the files in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi mosque lawsuit were transferred to the Varanasi district court, following the Supreme Court’s Friday order to transfer the case from the civil judge (senior division) to the district judge.

District government lawyer (civil) Mahendra Prasad Pandey verified the file transfer and said the case will now be heard by district judge Ajay Kumar Vishwesh. The next hearing is set for May 23, but the court will announce the topics to be discussed on Monday.

The issue stems from a lawsuit filed by five women in April of last year, requesting unfettered daily worship of the Shringar Gauri — another name for goddess Parvati — idol on the Gyanvapi mosque’s outside wall, which is adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Following that, three more lawsuits were filed. One was created by the ANJUMAN INTEZAMIYA MASAJID (AIM), the mosque’s guardians.

After a shivling was apparently discovered during a tour of the premises by a court-appointed commission, the committee objected to a civil judge’s decision to close a pond of the mosque — where the devout did wuzu or ablution before prayers. On Friday, the Supreme Court heard AIM’s plea and sent the case to a district judge.

However, Supreme Court’s bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narashima had said the district judge will rule on the Mosque Management Committee’s claim that the litigation is “unmaintainable” since it violates the 1991 Protection of Places of Worship Act.