Varanasi: A District Court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi will Tuesday hear a plea over clubbing the various cases filed over the Gyanvapi masjid-Shringar Gauri dispute. The petition will be heard by District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesh after 2 pm today. Earlier, the court had deferred thrice the hearing over the clubbing of the various petitions filed by the Hindu plaintiffs.
The court is hearing a petition of four Hindu women Sita Sahu, Rekha Pathak, Lakshmi Devi and Manju Vyas seeking worshipping of Hindu deities in the vicinity of the mosque. The Hindu petitioners in other petitions have said that a 'Shivling' had been spotted inside the mosque during a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India last year.
Also read: SC to hear plea for clubbing of lawsuits pertaining to Gyanvapi mosque complex row on April 21
The Muslim side however maintained that the structure was actually the fountain where the Muslim worshippers perform ablution (Wuzu) before prayers. Following the survey, the Supreme Court had in May last year, directed the District Magistrate Varanasi to protect the area in which the structure stated to be a ' Shivling' was found.
The mosque management committee on Apr. 6 approached the Supreme Court over the continuous sealing of the fountain area. Pertinently, the apex court will on Apr. 21 hear a plea by the Hindu side seeking to club all suits filed in a Varanasi court pertaining to the Gyanvapi mosque complex row. The court on Mar. 28 agreed to list the matter for Apr. 21 while hearing submissions by the Hindu side's lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain.
Jain said that the district judge of Varanasi had deferred five times the decision on a plea seeking clubbing of all civil suits pertaining to the dispute.
