[BREAKING] Determine religious character of Gyanvapi Mosque: Hindu parties to Supreme Court

The Hindu parties in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute has told the Supreme Court that before the application filed by the Muslim parties to reject their plaint is decided, the religious character of the Gyanvapi Mosque has to be determined (Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varansi & Ors. v. Rakhi Singh)..In a reply filed through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, the Hindu parties have urged the Court to allow the demolition of the ground beneath the area where a Shivling was reportedly found inside the Mosque..Claiming that the character of the Mosque is a temple in "reality", the reply states that as part of the 'Avimukta Kshetra', a Linga of Lord Adi Visheshwar is located to the north of the sacred well, Gyan Vapi while encircling the temple of Avimukteshwara, the shrines of Dandapani, Taraka and Mahakaal all of which are also erected near the Gyan Vapi and Lord Visheshwar Temple. ."As described in various scriptures and Skand Puran, the Jyotirlinga was established by Lord Shiva himself at Kashi creating Avimukteshwara Kshetra in the radius of 5 Kos (Krosh)," reads the reply affidavit. .As per the Hindu parties, the Mughal ruler Aurangazeb demolished a portion of temple of the Adi Visheshwar at Varanasi and Gyanvapi Mosque was built in it's place "but they could not change the religious character of Hindu temple as the idol of Goddess Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh and other associate deities continued in the same building complex.""The deity Adi Visheshwar is continuing as De-Jure owner of the entire land of Settlement Plot No.9130, 9131 and 9132 in Mauza Shahar Khas, Tahsil and District Varanasi. Aurangzeb passed the order for demolishing the temple in the capacity of a sovereign. The land does not belong to any Muslim, body of Muslim or Waqf board," the reply further stated..It is also contended that waqf can be created only on the land dedicated by a waqif, who is owner of the land, and that it is apparent that the entire land vested in the deity Lord Adi Visheshwar, who is the owner of the property in question which was usurped by Aurangzeb..With regard to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the Hindu parties have stated that the Court has to consider what the religious character of the place in question was on August 15, 1947, whether it was a place of Hindu or Muslim worship, and whether erecting a super structure can convert a temple into a mosque or vice versa."In Section 4 of the P.W. Act the Parliament has purposely used the word “religious character”, to mean that the Temple, Mosque, Church, Gurudwara etc. should have been constructed according to tenets of the religion without encroaching upon the land of another faith," reads the reply. .As per the Hindu parties, the next course of action for the trial court in Varanasi hearing the dispute would be to decide the application filed by them for removing the walls encircling the alleged Shivling by directing the appropriate authority or person to carry out the order. In this light the application filed by the Hindu parties on May 17 has to be decided before the plea filed by the other side is adjudicated upon, it is stated."Trial Court has still to find out the further course of action to be taken on Commissioners report and pass orders on the application of Plaintiffs to find out the length and width of Shiva Lingam. After the reports filed by the Advocate Commission it is evident that the disputed structure is having religious character of a Hindu temple. Thus application 82-Ga dated May 17, 2022, filed by Hindus has to be decided first," reads the reply affidavit..The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud , Surya Kant and PS Narasimha will be hearing the case tomorrow at 3 pm. .Before the Bench is an appeal filed by the Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court which permitted a court commissioner appointed by a civil court in Varanasi to inspect and conduct a survey and videography of the Gyanvapi Mosque over which Hindus and Muslims have laid claims for the right to worship.The local court had passed an order on May 16 sealing off an area of the mosque after counsel for the Hindu parties Harishankar Jain contended that a Shivling has been recovered during the survey.