Four of the five Hindu plaintiffs in the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple civil dispute on Friday, concluded their submissions before a Varanasi district court, opposing the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s application, challenging the maintainability of their suit.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, one of the lawyers leading the team for four of the Hindu plaintiffs, said, “We have concluded our submissions on this point. We argued that a temple existed at the disputed site before the mosque and that the setting up of the mosque did not alter the religious character of the site.”
The Masjid panel has challenged the suit filed by the plaintiffs on the grounds that it is barred by the Places of Worship Act, 1991 which freezes the religious character of a site as it stood on August 15, 1947.
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The Hindu plaintiffs have so far argued that the 1991 legislation does not bar their suit, and submitted that their suit was filed to present evidence and prove the religious character of the disputed site as of August 15, 1947.
In the written submissions, the plaintiffs argued that since a temple allegedly existed at the site before the mosque, the construction of the mosque was in itself in violation of Islamic law. Further, the plaintiffs submitted that as per Hindu laws, the property in question has always been with the deity concerned and the existence of a mosque does not change ownership.
Advocate Shivam Gaur, who is appearing for plaintiff Rakhi Singh, said, “The Masjid panel has said our suit is barred under the 1991 Act, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act and the Waqf Act. I will argue how our suit is permissible under all three of these laws on the next date.”
The court will now hear the matter next on Monday (July 18).
