NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday shifted the trial of a suit by Hindu parties seeking enforcement of their right to worship inside Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque from civil judge (senior division) to the district judge, even as it observed that the survey of a structure to ascertain its religious nature is not barred under the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1991.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and P S Narasimha said whether Hindus can be allowed to worship at Gyanvapi mosque involved complex and sensitive issues that needed to be dealt with a seasoned judicial hand and ordered the Varanasi district judge to decide on priority the plea of the Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, Varanasi, under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), challenging maintainability of the suit by five Hindu women seeking to worship Goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities inside the mosque complex.
