Gyanvapi mosque case: The original petition, how it began and the developments

The decades old Gyanvapi mosque and Kashi Vishwanath controversy hit headlines recently when the case reached the Supreme Court on May 13. This came days after a Varanasi local court directed the videography survey at the religious complex be allowed to continue. The Supreme Court on May 13 refused to grant an interim stay on the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.

On May 16, a local court in Varanasi directed the district administration to seal the spot in the Gyanvapi mosque complex where a 'shivling' was reportedly found in the Wazukhana during a court-mandated videography survey. The three-day survey was conducted under tight security.

Read | 'Shut down all fountains of Taj Mahal too': Asaduddin Owaisi on Gyanvapi Masjid’s Shivling row

Last year in April, five women petitioned that they should be allowed to perform daily darshan, pooja and other rituals of Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities within the old temple complex. After which a civil judge had appointed a commissioner. The litigants claimed the existence of an image of the Goddess on the western wall of the mosque situated adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. 

In March, the Allahabad High Court rejected the petition filed by the caretakers of the mosque against the order of the judge appointing a court commissioner to inspect the site. The survey was conducted by the team last Friday without any hindrance.

Several petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court, Allahabad High Court and Varanasi Court in the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath case. These petitions allege that the mosque was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

The original petition

A petition was filed in the year 1991 in the Varanasi court where the petitioners, local priests, sought permission to worship in the Gyanvapi Mosque area.

The petitioners argued that the mosque was built on the orders of Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his reign in the 16th century.

In December 2019, a Varanasi-based lawyer, Vijay Shankar Rastogi, filed a petition in the lower court citing construction was illegal and sought an archaeological survey.

In April 2021, the Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out the archaeological survey and submit its report in the court.

Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that runs the Gyanvapi Mosque contested the petition and opposed mosque survey.

The matter then reached the Allahabad High Court and post hearing all the parties involved, it ordered an interim stay on the direction to the ASI for conducting the survey.

In March 2021, a Supreme Court bench headed by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde agreed to examine the validity of the Places of Worship Act.