Varanasi: Following the verdict of the Varanasi district court on Monday, several Muslim religious leaders expressed disappointment while keeping their respect for the court's decision intact. Muslim cleric and member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, said, "We respect the court's decision on the Gyanvapi-Srinagar Gauri case. Once our legal team goes through the court's verdicts, we will decide the further line of action."
rejected the plea questioning the maintainability of a petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi premises.
"The Supreme Court's comment on the Worship Act 1991, while hearing the Babari Masjid case, had given us hope. We had thought that there will be no 'Mandir-Masjid' issue in the country from now onwards. But we are again witnessing the same. They are overpassing the 'Worship Act 1991' and a similar case are being raised in court. We need legal experts to look after them," Mahali added.
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Meanwhile, Shia cleric and General Secretary of All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Yasoob Abbas said, "We should try to resolve the issue outside the court. I am repeatedly saying that the religious leaders from both sides including the local ones from Varanasi should sit together and resolve the dispute mutually by making a common consensus."
On the other hand, saints from the holy city of Ayodhya expressed their happiness over the decision and referred to it as 'first victory. Raju Das, the priest of Hanumangarhi, the famous Siddha Peeth in Ayodhya, said, "the way the country's Prime Minister is redacting the symbols of slavery in the country, in the same manner, we got justice on an auspicious day of Somvar (Monday). I would like to thank the honorable court for the decision."
Amid all this, Iqbal Ansari, petitioner in the Babri Masjid case urged everyone to respect the decision of the court, "if the court wants to hear up the matter then nothing wrong with it," said Ansari. The Muslim petitioners are likely to move the HC challenging the orders passed by the Varanasi district court on Monday that quashed the plea questioning the maintainability of a petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi premises.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya Monday welcomed the Varanasi court order in the case, even as Muslim bodies said the option to move the higher court is open, as suggested by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi earlier today.
