Varanasi's Gyanvapi Mosque controversy: Know details, timeline of events
On a Varanasi court's orders, an advocate commissioner-led team reached Varanasi's Kashi Vishwanath Dham-Gyanvapi Masjid complex on Friday and began surveying its premises and videographing the Shringar Gauri site there. However, the team wasn't allowed to continue with the survey and videography on Saturday as a protest reportedly broke out. Moreover, the Gyanvapi mosque management filed a petition seeking the current advocate commissioner's replacement.
- The Gyanvapi mosque issue is much on the lines of the Ayodhya dispute, which was resolved in 2019.
- In 1991, a number of petitioners moved a Varanasi court contending the mosque was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a Hindu temple in 1669.
- They demanded the mosque be removed and the land be handed over to Hindus. Priests sought permission to worship there.
Earlier, the team conducted an inspection of the mosque's outer periphery after Friday prayers. A Varanasi court had ordered the inspection after five women filed a petition last year. They sought unrestricted, yearlong access to Maa Shringar Gauri, located behind the mosque's western wall. Meanwhile, accepting the mosque's petition to replace the court commissioner, the court said the matter would be heard on Monday.
On Friday morning, security was beefed up on the Gyanvapi premises with heavy police deployment and barricading to regulate the movement of people, considering the court's order for the survey and videography, scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
In 1991, lawyer Vijay Shankar Rastogi filed a petition in a Varanasi court as the "next friend" of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir's presiding deity. Rastogi argued Maharaja Vikramaditya built a temple—2,050 years ago—on the site where the Gyanvapi mosque stood. Some other petitioners claimed Mughal ruler Aurangzeb built the mosque in the 17th century by removing a portion of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir.
Rastogi had also argued since the mosque was built on a temple ruin, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, wouldn't apply. So, Hindus should be granted ownership of the entire parcel of land and the right to worship inside the mosque, he asserted. However, a trial court in Varanasi ruled in 1997 that the petitioner's request was restricted by the aforementioned Act.
In 1998, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid (AIM) Committee filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court and cited Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The committee argued that it was not a civil case and couldn't be resolved by a civil court. The Allahabad High Court then issued a stay order on the civil court's proceedings.
In March 2019, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor. However, in October 2019, a contractor removed a chabootra near gate number 4 of the Gyanvapi mosque as part of the temple corridor construction. This lead to communal tensions in the neighborhood, prompting the contractor to build the demolished structure overnight.
To recall, advocate Rastogi had filed another petition in December 2019 seeking the court's directions for an archeological assessment of the Gyanvapi Masjid. His plea was filed a month after the Supreme Court's decision on the Ayodhya Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue.
On April 18, 2021, five Delhi-based women demanded permission for yearlong daily worship at Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman, and Nandi located in the mosque complex. Currently, devotees are allowed to worship Shringar Gauri there only on the fourth day of Chaitra Navratra. Later, on April 26, 2022, the court ordered a survey and videography by the advocate commissioner at the mosque complex.
