Gyanvapi case: Allahabad HC rejects suits filed by Masjid Committee

PTI, Dec 19, 2023, 10:58 AM IST

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday dismissed all five suits challenging the maintainability of a civil suit pending before a Varanasi court seeking restoration of a temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque exists.

Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said the suit filed in 1991 before a Varanasi court is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Religious Worship Act, 1991.

The court directed a comprehensive survey of the Gyanvapi mosque site.

The petitions filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board had also challenged a Varanasi court order of April 8, 2021 to conduct a comprehensive survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.

The AIMC, which looks after the management of Gyanvapi mosque located adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi, has challenged the maintainability of a suit filed before a Varanasi court, wherein the Hindu petitioners have sought restoration of a temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque presently exists.

According to Hindu side plaintiff, the Gyanvapi mosque is a part of the temple.

The primary contention of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board was that the suit is prohibited by the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which restricts altering the character of a religious places as it existed on August 15, 1947.