A court-mandated survey of the mosque reportedly presented evidence reinforcing the suspicions of many Hindu believers and religious organizations: Gyanvapi may have been built on the foundations of the famous Vishweshwara temple that Aurangzeb destroyed in 1669. The floral motifs on the walls of the mosque were a clue of sorts, but in the end, it was the apparent discovery of a linga-like structure that got devotees excited about the parts of the temple buried beneath.
Here’s how the dispute is faring in the courts.
1937
In 1937, the Allahabad High Court in Din Mohammad v. Secretary of State ruled that the Gyanvapi complex would be treated as waqf property, while the Hindu Vyas family would be in possession of the basement and cellars of the mosque.
1991
The Narasimha Rao government passed the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act in 1991 at the peak of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The law mandated that the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, with the sole exception, would retain the religious character of all other places of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
15 October 1991,
On 15 October 1991, Pt. Somnath Vyas, Dr. Ramrang Sharma and a few others filed a suit in a Varanasi court seeking permission to build a new temple in the Gyanvapi complex and worship there. The district judge ordered the hearing of the case, but on August 13, 1998, the Allahabad High Court stayed the decision.
March 2000
Following the death of Somnath Vyas in March 2000, the court named advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi as the plaintiff in October 2018. Rastogi then appealed to a civil judge to conduct a radar technical survey of the Gyanvapi complex. After allowing the appeal, the Gyanvapi authorities filed a petition in the HC against the order. The matter is going on.
August 18, 2021
The five petitioners moved a Varanasi court on August 18, 2021, seeking that they be allowed to worship not only the shrine of Shringar Gauri behind the Gyanvapi wall, but all others “visible within the old temple complex”. And the invisible gods” should also be worshipped. The court had ordered inspection of the Gyanvapi site on 26 April 2022. The survey was finally conducted on 14-16 May.
May 16
On 16 May, the survey threw up evidence of a Shivling-like structure – also described as a fountain – in the mosque’s Vazukhana, which is a pond for rituals. Though the Varanasi court said that the area be closed till the survey report is submitted, the Supreme Court had also started hearing a special leave petition filed by the Gyanvapi Management Committee on May 17. Although it did not order a stay on the survey proceedings, it did allow prayers to take place freely inside.