The Supreme Court agreed to set up a bench on Friday to hear the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath case, a day before the order granting protection to the area where a ‘Shivling’ was claimed to have been found expires. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Thursday took note of the submissions by advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for some Hindu devotees, and said the order that secured protection of the area was expiring on November 12, reported news agency PTI.
The CJI said that the apex court will constitute a bench to hear the matter at 3 PM tomorrow.
The case pertains to a special leave petition that was filed by the Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, challenging the survey that was ordered by the Varanasi Civil Court in a suit filed by five Hindu women seeking the right to worship deities in the mosque premises throughout the year.
Also Read: Gyanvapi mosque case: Hindu women’s petition for worship maintainable, rules Varanasi court
On May 17, the top court had asked the Varanasi district magistrate to secure the area inside the Gyanvapi Shringar Gauri complex, where a “Shivling” was claimed to have been found during a videographic survey of the mosque area, without impeding or restricting rights of Muslims to access and offer namaz at the premises of the mosque.
The bench of justices DY Chandrachud and PS Narasimha, while hearing an appeal by the Masjid Committee, passed the order and refused to stay proceedings of the lower court.
The Muslim side has been referring to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 and its Section 4, which bars the filing of a suit or initiation of any other legal proceeding for the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947, reported PTI.
Also Read: What is the Places of Worship Act, the decades-old law at the centre of the Gyanvapi Mosque case?
Earlier, on October 31, the apex court had agreed to list the matter today, however, it was not listed.