Celebrations ensued among members of the Hindu committee in Varanasi and some others parts of Uttar Pradesh as a district court on Monday rejected the Muslim side’s plea in the Gyanvapi mosque row and ruled in favour of the five Hindu women worshippers who had requested permission for daily worship of Hindu deities. The court said the Hindu women’s petition was ‘maintainable’. The Anjuman Intezamia Committee, representing the Muslim side, said they will move now Allahabad high court challenging the lower court’s order.
“It’s a win for the Hindu community. The next hearing is on September 22. It’s a foundation stone for the Gyanvapi temple. Appeal to people to maintain peace,” said Sohan Lal Arya, a petitioner on the Hindu side of the Gyanvapi Mosque case.
Reactions have also started pouring in from senior members of the BJP-led government in the state. “I welcome the order of the honorable court in the Maa Shringar Gauri Mandir case, everyone should respect the decision,” said deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Another deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said, “There’s a wave of happiness. I’m receiving many phone calls expressing happiness. It’s their right (to challenge the order in the high court) but we’ll respect the judgment and strengthen the law and order in the state.”
Minority minister Danish Azad Ansari said everyone should respect the verdict. “A court listens to all sides and only then comes to a conclusion. All of us should respect whatever verdict the court has given and follow it,” Ansari was quoted as saying by news agency news agency.
The district judge had last month reserved its order in the communally sensitive case till September 12 in the case that was being heard by the Varanasi court following a Supreme Court order.
Advocate of the Muslim side, Mohd Sameem Mohd, said the case will now go on. “We had petitioned that the case listed was not worth hearing. our plea was denied today. We will approach the high court now. Case has just started, it will go on.”
Speaking in response to the court’s verdict, Maulana Khalid Rasheed of Firangi Mahali in Lucknow told Hindustan Times, “In the Babri Masjid case… the Supreme Court had given us the hope that all matters pertaining to temples and mosques have been resolved. Despite that, the orders that have come today, we will look into it and discuss with our legal team of experts.”
According to the Hindu side, a Shivling was found during the videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex, but it was contested by the Muslim side. The next hearing in the case has been reserved for September 22.