A fresh application has been filed in the Varanasi District Court in the Gyanvapi case by a group of lawyers led by Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain on behalf of Shailendra Kumar Pathak ‘Vyas’, seeking permission to worship in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi complex.
The court heard this application on Wednesday. Both the Hindu side and the Anjuman Arrangements Mosque Committee presented their respective arguments before the court. The court has fixed the next hearing for 29 September. Besides, the court has also issued a notice to Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust, one of the parties involved in the case, to present its side.
Advocates for Shailendra Kumar Pathak ‘Vyas’ sought permission for worship in the Gyanvapi complex and appointment of the District Magistrate as the custodian of the southern chamber of the same complex.
The transfer application was submitted by plaintiff Shailendra Kumar Vyas in the Varanasi district court on Monday, 25 September. The application was filed immediately after the initiation of the fresh civil trial in the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division).The title of the suit is “Shailendra Kumar Pathak ‘Vyas’ vs. Anjuman Intejamia Masajid Committee and Others.” Advocates Hari Shankar Jain Vishnu Shankar Jain, Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi and Sudhir Tripathi represented Vyas and filed both the fresh suit and the transfer application on his behalf.
Chaturvedi said, “We requested the court to direct the guardian to allow the plaintiff, co-priests and devotees to conduct religious ceremonies in the southern basement of the Gyanvapi complex, which was in the possession of Vyasji’s family for many years. As per the orders of the state government, barricades were installed all around in 1993.
Currently, due to the ongoing survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the Gyanvapi complex, the door of this basement located in front of Nandiji remains open. The plaintiff alleges that under these circumstances, the Anjuman Arrangements Committee responsible for the Gyanvapi Mosque may try to take over it.
Chaturvedi said the plaintiff also submitted an application in the Varanasi district court on Monday, seeking to take jurisdiction over the case.
He argued that the Shringaar Gauri-Gyanvapi case and other related matters were already being heard in the Varanasi District Court. The latest suit filed in the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) is also of similar nature. Therefore, “we requested the court to transfer the new trial to the district court.”
However, objecting to the claim that the suits were of the same nature, the Anjuman Intejamia Masjid Committee argued that the Gyanvapi Masjid is on plot number 9130, and the southern basement falls within the terrace area of the Gyanvapi Masjid. All the cases related to Gyanvapi Masjid are related to plot number 9130 and they are already pending in the court. AIMC counsel Mumtaz Ahmed urged the court to reject the transfer application.