The Allahabad High Court allowed the restoration of thetemple at the Gyanvapi Mosque site in Varanasi on Tuesday, thus rejecting a batch of petitions challenging the maintainability of a 1991 civil suit filed before a Varanasi court.
The court made the ruling while hearing the petitions were filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which oversees the Gyanvapi mosque, and Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.
Out of a total of five petitions – three from the mosque committee and two from Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board – three of them challenged the maintainability of a suit filed before the Varanasi court in 1991.
In 1991, a suit was filed on behalf of deity Adi Vishveswar Virajman before the Varanasi court seeking control of the disputed premises and permission for worship. The mosque committee and Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board had challenged the suit as they said that it is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) of 1991.
The act restricts altering the character of religious places as it existed on August 15, 1947.
In the suit, it was argued that the Gyanvapi dispute was before independence and would not come under the Places of Worship Act.
The bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said that the 1991 suit is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Religious Worship Act, 1991.
He further stated that the mosque compound can have either a Muslim character or a Hindu character and this cannot be decided at the stage of framing issues.
“The suit affects two major communities of the country. We direct the trial court to expeditiously decide the suit in 6 months,” Justice Agarwal told the Varanasi court.