Protect ’shivling’, don’t stop namaz: Supreme Court in Gyanvapi case

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 17, 2022: The Supreme Court adjourned its hearing in the Gyanvapi Mosque case till Thursday, after ordering the Varanasi district magistrate to ensure the shivling that was apparently found in the complex is protected without affecting the right of Muslims to offer prayer.

The Supreme Court has stayed the May 16 order passed by a civil court in Varanasi to seal the area and prohibit entry of people. The Supreme Court said it will only retain the part of the order concerned with protection of the ’shivling’.

The top court has issued a notice to the petitioners and the UP government.

Additionally, the court has not stayed the proceedings in the matter in the Varanasi court. On Tuesday, the Varanasi court asked a team appointed to survey the premises of the complex to submit its report in two days.

A petition filed in 1991 in a Varanasi court claimed that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the orders of Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his reign in the 16th century.

The petitioners and local priests sought permission to worship in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex.

The case was revived when a Varanasi-based lawyer, Vijay Shankar Rastogi, filed a petition claiming illegality in the construction of the Gyanvapi Masjid and sought an archaeological survey of the mosque. This came in December 2019 after the Supreme Court verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute in Ayodhya.

Courtesy: India Today