Fresh pleas seek sealing of Gyanvapi mosque, protection of symbols

PRAYAGRAJ/VARANASI: A day before the Allahabad high court delivers its judgment on Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s (AIMC) petition challenging a Varanasi court’s July 21 order for an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, two pleas were filed before the high court and a Varanasi court respectively on Wednesday.

The first sought the sealing of the Gyanvapi mosque and the other requested the court to secure the entire complex in order to protect signs and symbols found on the premises during a court-mandated survey in May 2022.

The public interest litigation before the Allahabad high court was filed on Wednesday by Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS) international president Jitendra Singh “Visen”, Rakhi Singh, plaintiff number 1 in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case, and a few others.

The PIL sought directions to the state government and the district administration to seal the entire Gyanvapi mosque without affecting the ASI survey so that no damage can be done by “non-Hindus’ to Hindu sign and symbol which were found during an earlier survey (in May 2022) and Shri Adi Visheshwar Virajmaan in the premises of mosque, claimed to be the old temple complex by the petitioners.

The petition is not likely to be listed before Friday.

The petitioners also requested, “The state government and district administration may be directed to restrain the non-Hindus in the old temple area till disposal of suits pending in the Ld. District Judge, Court, Varanasi regarding Gyanvapi premises.”

In the petition, it was stated that the temple of “Jyotirlinga” was destroyed and damaged many times in the past by various invaders and in 1669 it was attacked on the order of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

“....in the year 1669 (Sixteen Hundred Sixty Nine) AD under the orders of the most fanatic, cruel Islamic ruler Aurangzeb, the temple was destroyed/damaged. Thereafter, Muslims unauthorisedly encroached into the temple premises and put a super structure which they call the ‘alleged Gyanvapi Mosque’ despite the fact that the property was vesting in the deity and the same was not and could not be a Waqf Property,” read the petition.

The petition also stated, “Present petition is being filed to save the centuries’ old remaining of (the) old Sri Adi Vishweshwar temple in Kashi (Varanasi) and for protection of Shivlingam of Sri Adi Vishweshwar Virajman and other visible and invisible deities in the precinct of the old Sri Adi Vishweshwar temple.”

Saurabh Tiwari, counsel for the petitioners, said, “The PIL was filed on Wednesday and was allotted filing/receiving No. 75578/2023 by the registry of the high court.”

In the other application, Rakhi Singh urged the court of the district judge, Varanasi, to secure the entire Gyanvapi complex in order to protect the signs and symbols found during court mandated survey in Gyanvapi premises in May 2022. The court has fixed August 4 for the next hearing.

In her application filed through counsel Manbahadur Singh and Anupam Dwivedi, Singh said the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri case is pending before the court. Singh alleged that the people associated with Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages Gyanvapi mosque, keep visiting the Gyanvapi premises and tried to delete/wipe out the symbols/signs of followers of Sanatana (Dharma) present in Gyanvapi.

Her counsel Anupam Dwivedi said, “Several important signs/symbols were found during the survey of the mosque last year (in May 2022). These are very important evidences. We filed the application in the court, urging the court to secure the entire Gyanvapi premises in order to preserve all sign/symbols, which are very important evidences for the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case. The court fixed August 4 as the next date for the matter.”

Eklaque Ahmad, a counsel for AIMC, said, “So far, we haven’t got a copy of the application. After receiving the copy of the application, we will file objection (against the application) in this regard.”

Ahmad also said, “The allegations (by the plaintiff) are baseless.”

SM Yasin, joint secretary of the AIMC, too, refuted the allegations, calling them bizarre and baseless.

The Allahabad high court on July 27 had extended the ongoing stay on the survey of Gyanvapi Masjid till the verdict is pronounced on August 3. The high court had said that the July 24 Supreme Court order temporarily suspending the survey of the mosque will operate till August 3.

Allahabad high court chief justice Pritinker Diwaker gave the order while hearing plea filed by the AIMC, which challenged the July 21 order of the court of the Varanasi district judge for a survey of the barricaded area of the mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The Varanasi court had ordered an extensive survey of the mosque by the ASI to ascertain whether it was built over a pre-existing temple while holding that a scientific probe is necessary for the truth to come out.

The judge, however, excluded a section – where the Hindu side claims a Shivling was found and the Muslims say the structure is part of a fountain – that has remained sealed since a Supreme Court order in May 2022.