Days after the Supreme Court refrained from interfering with the Gyanvapi mosque survey, Varanasi’s district judge will take up the matter for hearing on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Friday transferred the suit filed by the Hindu petitioners from the Varanasi civil judge to the district judge for deciding the mosque management committee’s objections to the survey. It said ascertainment of the religious character of a place may not be barred by the Places of Worship Act.
The Supreme Court noted the “complexities and sensitivities involved in the matter” would require a “more senior and experienced hand”. The Varanasi civil court in April ordered the survey on the suit by five women seeking daily prayers and worship rights at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, a Hindu shrine, behind the western wall of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex.
Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, who is one of the lawyers of the Hindu petitioners, said all files related to the matter were transferred to the court of district judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha on Saturday following the Supreme Court order.
