A district and sessions court in Varanasi said it will decide on Tuesday which application pertaining to the Gyanvapi mosque case it will hear first, Live Law reported on Monday
The court will decide whether to invite objections to the report of a survey commission first or whether to decide on an application of the mosque committee on the maintainability of the Hindu side’s petition. The mosque committee has filed the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
According to the order, a petition can be dismissed if it does not show a cause of action or is barred by law.
The plaintiffs, a group of women who have claimed that an image of the Hindu deity Shringar Gauri exists at the site, argued that all the applications should be heard together.
On Monday, the plaintiffs demanded that they should be provided with the CD, photos and report of the survey at the Gyanvapi mosque.
The court was hearing the petition filed by the five women, who have sought permission to offer daily prayers and observe other Hindu rituals at the back of the western wall of the Gyanvapi mosque. The mosque is located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
A court-appointed surveyor reported that an oval object had been found in the tank of the Muslim place of worship. Hindu petitioners claimed it is a shivling, a symbolic representation of Shiva. Muslims, however, say that the object is actually a fountain.
The petition was first filed by them before a trial court in Varanasi. However, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered to transfer the trial court proceedings to the court of the district judge in Varanasi. It said that a more experienced hand was required to hear arguments in the sensitive case.
The court also directed the district court to decide on priority the application filed under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
On May 12, the trial court ordered to complete a video survey of the site and present a detailed report. The survey commission submitted the report on May 19.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, the caretakers of the mosque, moved the Supreme Court, opposing videography inside the mosque.
On May 16, the trial court directed district officials to seal a part of the mosque where a shivling was claimed to have been found.
However, the mosque committee claimed that the object is not a shivling, but a part of a stone fountain in the mosque’s wuzu khana, or ablution tank.
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