Gyanvapi Row: Varanasi court will rule on pleas for hearings tomorrow

The Varanasi district court, which is hearing the civil suit over the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Viswanath temple complex dispute, will rule on Tuesday whether to invite objections to the commissioner survey report of the Gyanvapi mosque or to hold a hearing on the Masjid committee’s Order 7 Rule 11 application first. According to the Bar & Bench, Hindus wanted the objections heard, while Muslims wanted the O7R11 determined.

The case was heard in Varanasi on Monday after the Supreme Court on Friday directed that the current proceedings be sent to the Varanasi District Judge for “trial and all interlocutory and ancillary proceedings.” The purpose of the hearing was to determine the next steps in the lawsuit and how the hearing would be conducted. The courtroom was only open to the parties and their attorneys.

The Supreme Court had ordered on Friday that the matter “shall be tried before a senior and experienced judicial officer of the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service,” citing the “complexity of the issues involved in the civil litigation” previously pending before the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Varanasi.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq said that there was no ‘Shivling’ in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque and that the news was propagated to inflame feelings ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2024. “All of these conditions are being built in preparation for the 2024 elections. In the history of the Gyanvapi mosque, there was no ‘Shivling’ or anything else. “This is all wrong,” Sambhal MP Barq told reporters outside the Samajwadi Party office.