The Allahabad High Court has deferred the hearing of two critical petitions that seek directives for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct additional surveys of the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi. The hearing, which was scheduled for December 18, 2024, has now been adjourned to February 24, 2025.
This postponement follows the Supreme Court’s interim order issued on December 12, 2024, which explicitly barred all courts from delivering final judgments or issuing directives regarding surveys. The apex court’s order underscores its intent to maintain the status quo until it hears several petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, on February 17, 2025.
The 1991 Act prohibits the alteration of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, with an exception for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute. The Supreme Court’s decision to examine this Act is expected to have far-reaching implications for similar cases across the country.
The petitions under consideration in the Allahabad High Court challenge an October 2023 ruling by a Varanasi district court. The district court had declined to order a comprehensive ASI survey of the Gyanvapi premises, a contentious site claimed by both Hindu and Muslim communities.
The first petition specifically demands an ASI survey of the Wuzukhana (ablution pond) area within the premises. This area has remained sealed following a Supreme Court directive issued after a Varanasi court-ordered survey in May 2023 reportedly discovered a Shivling-like structure. The discovery has been a point of contention, with the Hindu litigants asserting it as evidence of the presence of a Hindu temple beneath Gyanvapi and the Muslim community contending it as a fountain.
The second petition, filed by Advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi, seeks a directive for the ASI to survey the disputed mosque’s main dome. Rastogi’s plea claims that the ‘Swayambhu Jyotirling’ (self-manifested sacred Shiva lingam) lies beneath the disputed mosque’s main dome. Rastogi is the litigant in the original title suit filed in 1991, which asserts that the Gyanvapi was constructed after the demolition of a pre-existing Hindu temple during Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s reign in the 17th century.
The single-judge bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal presided over Wednesday’s proceedings. Citing the ongoing deliberations in the Supreme Court, Justice Agarwal ordered the adjournment and scheduled the petitions for further hearing a week after the Supreme Court’s critical review of the Places of Worship Act.
The petitions’ adjournment highlights the intricate legal entanglements surrounding the Gyanvapi case. The site remains a flashpoint in the larger debate over the preservation of religious identities and historical narratives in India.
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