The fast-track court will issue its decision after hearing a plea seeking permission to worship the shivling, which is said to have been discovered in the Gyanvapi mosque complex on November 6.
The fast-track court of civil judge (senior division) Mahendra Pandey heard arguments from both sides and reserved its decision on the plea till November 8, said advocate Anupam Dwivedi, appearing for the Hindu side.
Earlier on May 24, plaintiff Kiran Singh, who is the general secretary of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, filed a suit in the Varanasi district court to bar Muslims from entering the Gyanvapi complex and hand over the Sanatan Sangh complex and permission to offer prayers at the shivling.
On May 25, District Court Judge AK Vishvesh ordered the case to be referred to the fast-track court, as reported by PTI.
In this case, the district magistrate of Varanasi, the police commissioner, and the Anjuman Intezamia committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque and the Vishwanath Temple Trust, were chosen as respondents.
A lower court (Civil Judge-Higher Division), which was earlier hearing a plea filed by a group of women seeking permission to worship idols of Hindu deities daily on the outer walls of the mosque on April 26, ordered a video survey of the Gyanvapi complex and the Hindu party claimed that a ‘shivling’ was found during the exercise ‘, PTI reported.
However, the Muslim party claims that the object was part of the water fountain mechanism in the ‘wazookhana’ tank – where devotees perform ablution before offering namaz.
On May 20, the Supreme Court transferred the case from a civil judge (senior division) to a district judge, saying that in view of the “complexity” and “sensitivity” of the issue, it is better to have a senior judicial officer with more than 25-30 years of experience handle the case.