Gyanvapi- Shringar Gauri case: Court reserves its order, will deliver on Sept 12

Varanasi: The district court on Wednesday reserved its order on the maintainability of a plea seeking permission for daily worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal and other deities inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex premises.

The court of District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha will deliver its order on September 12.

Maan Bahadur Singh, the counsel of Hindu side, said that both the parties concluded their submissions of the maintainability of the plaint that whether Rule 7 Order 11 of Civil Procedure Code (CPC) applies in this case or not.

Another counsel of the Hindu side said after hearing the submissions of both the sides, the District Judge reserved his order, which will be delivered on September 12.

After the court reserved its order, Hari Shankar Jain, the counsel of the Hindu side, said the documents which were produced in the court to establish that Gyanvapi mosque is the property of the Waqf Board were actually documents of Alamgir mosque which is located around one and a half kilometer away from the complex.

He said, "We apprised the court with the facts and through evidence and arguments established that the documents presented in the court have no connection with the existing plaint."

He alleged that the Muslim side made an attempt to mislead the court by presenting fake documents. He claimed that there is a Supreme Court ruling which states that even if a property is registered in the Waqf, it does not affect the rights of the Non-Muslims.

Jain claimed that the defendant side failed to give any evidence that the property which was razed by Aurangzeb belongs to the Waqf Board.

Maan Bahadur Singh claimed that Rule 7 Order 11 of CPC does not apply in this case. He claimed that even the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 was also not applicable because daily worship at Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal continued till 1993 and after that a barricading was done and Hindu worshippers were denied entry at Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal.

Notably, earlier the plaint was being heard in the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division), which ordered videography survey of the site on the request of the Hindu side. It was during videography survey signs of Hindu symbols like a Shivling-like structure and others were found inside the 'wazookhana' and other places. Later on the order of the Supreme Court hearing in the plaint it was transferred to the District Court. (UNI)