History of Gyanvapi: The case is in court for 32 years, and both sides are in the hope of justice, know what is the conclusion so far

In the matter of the scientific survey of Gyanvapi in Varanasi, the Muslim side got a big blow from the Allahabad High Court on Thursday. The court refused to ban the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The court said that no one will be harmed by this survey. Also, the court has allowed the Archaeological Survey of India to survey the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi. The hearing was held in the High Court on the instructions of the Supreme Court. In a way, the victory of the Hindu side is being considered. Because the history of the 350-year-old Gyanvapi mosque will come to the fore only from the survey of this ASI.

The legal battle over Gyanvapi mosque started from the year 1991

The first case was filed in the Varanasi court in 1991 in the Kashi Vishwanath Gyanvapi case. In the petition, permission was sought for worship on the Gyanvapi campus. Somnath Vyas, Ramrang Sharma, and Harihar Pandey are included as plaintiffs on behalf of the ancient idol Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar. In September 1991, a few months after the lawsuit was filed, the central government enacted the Place of Worship Act. This law says that the place of worship of any religion that came into existence before 15 August 1947 cannot be converted into a place of worship of any other religion. If anyone tries to do so, he can be imprisoned for one to three years and fined.

The case of Ayodhya was in court at that time, so it was kept separate from this law. But in the Gyanvapi case, citing this law, the mosque committee challenged the petition in the High Court. In 1993, the Allahabad High Court ordered to maintain the status quo by imposing a stay. In 2018, the Supreme Court ordered that the validity of the stay order, in any case, would be only for six months. Thereafter the order shall cease to be effective.

After this order, in 2019, the hearing in this case started again in the Varanasi court. In 2021, Varanasi's Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court approved the archaeological survey of Gyanvapi Masjid. The order appointed a commission and ordered the videography of Shringar Gauri on 6 and 7 May in the presence of both parties. By May 10, the court had asked for complete information regarding this.

On May 6, the survey was done on the first day itself, but on May 7, the Muslim side started protesting against it. The matter reached the court. On May 12, the petition of the Muslim side was heard. The court rejected the demand for the replacement of the commissioner and ordered the completion of the survey work by May 17 and the submission of the report. The court said that wherever locks are installed, get the locks broken. If someone tries to create an obstacle, then legal action should be taken against him, but the survey work should be completed in any case.

On 14 May, the Supreme Court refused an urgent hearing on the petition of the Muslim side. In the petition, a demand was made to ban the survey in Gyanvapi Masjid. Refusing to maintain the status quo, the apex court said that we cannot issue orders without seeing the papers. Now the matter will be heard on May 17. From May 14 itself, the survey work of Gyanvapi started again. All the closed rooms till the well were investigated. Video and photography of this entire process also took place.

The survey work was completed on 16 May. The Hindu side claimed that Baba was found in the well. Apart from this, many evidences of being a Hindu site were found. At the same time, the Muslim side said that nothing was found during the survey. The Hindu side demanded its scientific survey. The Muslim side opposed it. On July 21, 2023, the district court, approving the demand of the Hindu side, ordered a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi campus. After this, the matter reached the Supreme Court, where the court asked to go to the High Court. In this case, on 3 August 2023, the Allahabad High Court permitted to survey the Gyanvapi Masjid complex.

Also Read: Gyanvapi Case: No stay on ASI survey in Gyanvapi, Muslim side got a blow from Allahabad High Court