SC to constitute Bench today in Gyanvapi case

New Delhi, November 10

The Supreme Court will hear on Friday the Hindu side’s plea seeking extension of its order for protection of the area where a Shivling was found at Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri Complex at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

On behalf of the Hindu side, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain on Thursday mentioned it before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and pointed out that its May 17 order for protection of the area, where a Shivling was found, was expiring on November 12.

The order needed to be extended, he said. “We will constitute a Bench at 3 pm tomorrow,” the CJI told Jain.

The counsel said the mosque committee’s plea challenging the maintainability of Hindu devotees’ plea had been dismissed by the trial court and an appeal was pending in the Allahabad High Court. On November 8, a fast-track court at Varanasi had postponed till November 14 its judgment on a separate plea seeking permission to allow worship of the Shivling found at the mosque complex.

The Supreme Court had, on May 17, ordered protection of the area where a Shivling was reported to have been found at the Gyanvapi Shringar Gauri Complex in Varanasi even as it clarified that there shall be no restriction on Muslims offering namaz or other religious observances there. The Bench had made it clear that the trial judge’s order that only 20 people would offer namaz at the disputed complex would not operate now after the Muslim side had claimed that it was not a Shivling and that the object was part of the water fountain mechanism at the “wazookhana” reservoir where devotees used to carry out ablutions before offering namaz.

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