New Delhi: The Supreme Court ordered to transfer trial court proceedings in the Gyanvapi mosque case to the court of a district judge in Varanasi, Bar and Bench reported.
“Having regard to the sensitivity of this civil suit case, this case before the civil judge Varanasi shall stand transferred and be heard by senior and experienced judicial officer of the UP judicial services,” the bench said.
On Thursday, the Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and PS Narasimha had deferred the hearing by a day as the lead counsel of the Hindu petitioners Hari Shankar Jain was unwell.
A Varanasi trial court court had been hearing a petition filed by five women, who have sought permission to offer daily prayers and observe other Hindu rituals at the back of the western wall of the Gyanvapi mosque. They have claimed that an image of the Hindu deity Shringar Gauri exists at the site.
The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, the caretakers of the mosque, challenging the Varanasi court’s order to conduct a survey of the mosque.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, the Hindu petitioners had requested the court that before passing a verdict on the mosque committee’s plea, the religious character of Gyanvapi should be decided upon, Bar and Bench reported.
On Monday, the local court had directed district officials to seal a part of the mosque where a shivling was claimed to have been found. However, the lawyer of the mosque management committee claimed that the object is not a shivling, but a part of a stone fountain in the mosque’s wazu khana, or ablution tank.
A day later, the Supreme Court directed officials to protect the spot where the said shivling was found. It also said that Muslims should not be restricted from offering prayers at the mosque.
Meanwhile, the survey commission also submitted its report before the Varanasi court on Thursday. The local court will next hear the matter on May 23. Scroll. In
