New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a revision petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee – which manages Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque – challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women seeking permission to worship in the mosque premises.
The mosque committee had moved the high court after a Varanasi court order on September 12, 2022, upheld the suit by the women. The High Court, in sum, upheld the decision of the lower court and allowed the case to continue here.
In his order last September, Varanasi District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesh had observed that the suit by the plaintiffs – five Hindu women – was not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act, 1995 and the Act. The UP Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983 as claimed by the Masjid Committee.
Hindu women had filed a lawsuit in a Varanasi court demanding the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the mosque complex, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The women claimed that the present mosque complex was once a Hindu temple which was demolished by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, after which the present mosque was built.