Gyanvapi-Kashi Viswanath case: Allahabad High Court rejects plea by Muslim side challenging suit for worship rights in mosque

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea filed by the Muslim side challenging the maintainability of a 1991 civil suit filed by Hindu worshippers seeking rights to worship in premises currently occupied by the Gyanvapi mosque..Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal passed the verdict today. The Court has concluded that the suit by the Hindu side is not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. .The suit, which has been pending before a Varanasi court, concerns the Gyanvapi mosque and the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which are located near each other in Varanasi.The Hindu parties have staked a claim over the Gyanvapi compound over which the Gyanvapi mosque is presently located. In their suit, they have claimed that the mosque premises are an integral part of a temple..The suit was challenged by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (mosque management committee), which oversees the Gyanvapi mosque. The main argument by the Muslim parties, which also included the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, was that the suit by the Hindu parties was barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. This argument has been rejected by the High Court today. The Hindu side had reportedly defended their 1991 suit on the ground that the dispute predated the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act. .On a related note, cases relating to the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi land title dispute were earlier heard by Justice Prakash Padia, who had been dealing with the matter since 2021.However, these cases were withdrawn and transferred to another single judge by then Chief Justice Pritinker Diwakar (since retired) in August this year.This followed a complaint sent on July 27 by a Hindu party, which led Chief Justice Diwarker to find that Justice Padia had continued hearing the cases for over two years even though he no longer had jurisdiction in the matter as per the roster.The Muslim side had registered concerns over the Chief Justice's decision to transfer the case. The mosque management committee pointed out that Justice Padia had already heard the matter on at least 75 occasions before fixing the matter for pronouncement of judgment on August 28.However, Justice Diwarker refused to backtrack from his decision, in view of the judicial impropriety noticed in how the matter was relisted and reserved for judgment several times by Justice Padia's bench, even though his roster jurisdiction no longer permitted him to do so. Following this, the matter was listed before Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal.Fresh hearings in the matter began from September 12 onwards. .To read a detailed article on the judgment, click here.