All about the Gyanvapi complex controversy

A Varanasi court on Thursday ordered the Archaeologial Survey of India (ASI to conduct a physical survey at the Gyanvapi Mosque, located next to the city’s famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The order after three decades of litigation on a petition, which said that Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had demolished an ancient temple dedicated to “Lord Vishweshwar” and constructed a mosque.

Also Read: After Ayodhya, the new bone of contention is Kashi

Here’s all you need to know about the court case and its genesis.

The temple

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built in 1780 by Maratha ruler Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780. The petitioner says that the temple was not built on the original site where the mosque today stands. According to the petition, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669 demolished the original 2000-year-old temple to erect the Gyanvapi mosque.

The petition

The temple side’s petitioner, Vijay Shankar Rastogi, sought three major changes in a plea filed in 1991:

-First, the entire Gyanvapi complex land should be declared part of the temple.

-Second, the mosque be demolished and people around it be evicted.

– Three, Hindus be allowed to reconstruct the temple.

The petitioner had also sought excavation of the Gyanvapi mosque, which was allowed on Thursday.

Counter argument

The matter first went to court in 1936 when the Muslim side had filed a petition that the entire Gyanvapi complex should be declared as the land of the mosque. The case was dismissed but prayers were allowed at the disputed site.

In the current case, the argument of the Muslim side is that there was no temple at the site and the mosque that is being disputed has been there from the very beginning.

The Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid, which had objected to the petition, said they will approach a higher court against the order.

UP Sunni Central Waqf Board chairman Zufar Farooqui said: “We will be challenging the order in the Allahabad High Court. Our understanding is clear that this case is barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.”

The Act stipulates that the nature of all places of worship, except the one in Ayodhya that was then under litigation, shall be maintained as they were on August 15, 1947.

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The Act was brought in by the P V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government. A month back, the constitutional validity of the Act was challenged in the Supreme Court, which has sought the Centre’s response on the PIL.