The Gyanvapi case is very crucial because it has created communalism. Due to which again there is a topic for debate between the two communities, the Hindus and the Muslims. After the Places of Worship Act of 1991, it would be challenging for the Supreme Court to take the decision. 

Petition was filed in 1991 in a Varanasi court claiming that Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the orders of Aurangzeb. By demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his domination in the 16th century.

Gyanvapi mosque is in Varanasi at present. The Varanasi court appointed a panel to do a videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque. In the survey, they found a shivling with the statue of Nandi. 

Views of Hindu groups on this case

• Hindu groups claimed that the gyanvapi mosque had been built on a demolished temple. They claimed that the place at which the mosque was built was the original temple of Kashi Vishwanath; which was destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. 

• Hindu groups have also claimed that inside the domes of the mosque ideal Hindu deities are present. 

Order of the Court

• The Varanasi court of Uttar Pradesh has ordered the district magistrate to seal the area and prohibit the entry of any part of the area. 
• The court has ordered the opening of all the closed rooms in the basement of the mosque and conducted an archaeological survey to determine whether the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had built the mosque after destroying the temple of Kashi Vishwanath. 
• In the masjid complex, there is a pond present in which the Muslim community does their purity rituals before the prayer, where Hindu groups have claimed that the shivling lies beneath the pond, that area has also been sealed by the court. 
• Allahabad high court also heard the gyanvapi mosque case in which Hindu groups have pleaded that the mosque was built on the demolished temple. 

The Decision of the Supreme Court

The question before the Supreme Court is whether this entire survey is legal or not. Because of the Places of Worship Act which was brought in 1991. The Act said that apart from the Ram Janam Bhumi site no other religious structure could be tempered, it has to be what it was as of 15 August 1947, so there was a mosque on-site at that date it has to be a mosque now also. If it was a temple it has to be a temple, you can’t change the structure after this Act and the Supreme Court reiterated that in its Ayodhya verdict in 2019.

Written By: Ashi Dubey

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