Right to pray inside Gyanvapi mosque will not change its character to a temple: Allahabad HC
The court made the observation while upholding the maintainability of a plea filed by Hindu plaintiffs to perform rituals inside the mosque complex.
The demand of Hindu plaintiffs merely seeking the right to worship inside the Gyanvapi Mosque is not an act that will change its character to a temple, the Allahabad High Court has held.
The court made the observation while dismissing a revision plea challenging the maintainability of the petition filed by Hindu plaintiffs seeking permission to worship inside the mosque. The petition had been filed the Anjuman Intazamia Committee, which manages the mosque. The plea was dismissed on Wednesday and the judgement was made public the next day.
Five Hindu women had last year filed a plea seeking rights to worship inside the mosque compound. They had claimed that an image of Hindu deity Shringar Gauri exists at the mosque.
The mosque committee had challenged the plea contending that violates the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which states that the religious character of a place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947 cannot be changed.
In his verdict, Justice JJ Munir of the Allahabad High Court said that Hindus had worshipped their deities inside the mosque complex since August 15, 1947, and till as late as 1993. Since, the Places of Worship Act came to effect only in 1991, so their right to worship cannot be denied under the law, the judge held.
“This court fails to see that if the plaintiffs or devotees like them can do pooja and darshan of the deities on a single day in the year with no threat to the mosque’s character, how the making of it a daily or a weekly affair, would lead to a conversion or change of the mosque’s character,” the order stated.
The court also dismissed the argument put forward by the mosque committee that the Hindu plaintiffs were seeking to establish rights of their entire community by demanding rights to worship. The court held that the plaintiffs were instead only seeking to exercise their individual rights to worship.
The mosque committee had first filed the plea in a Varanasi district court, which had held in September that Hindu plaintiffs seeking the right to pray inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises is maintainable and can be heard further. The mosque committee then moved the Allahabad High Court.
