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Journalism of Courage
The decades-old litigation around the Gyanvapi mosque gained momentum in 2022 after five Hindu women sought the right to worship Maa Shrinagar Gauri on the outer wall of the mosque complex. Here is what has happened since then.
August: Five Hindu women file the civil suit, arguing that the mosque was built on the original temple’s site. The mosque committee challenges the maintainability of the suit citing the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
May 16: A videographic survey of the complex, carried out by a Commission appointed by the local court, is completed. A structure that the Hindu side claims is a “Shivling” and the Muslim side claims is a “fountain” is found within the mosque premises. Subsequently, the court orders the sealing of the mosque’s ablution area.
May 20: SC transfers the case to the district judge (from the civil judge); says it will intervene only after the district judge decides on the case’s preliminary aspects.
September: The Varanasi District and Sessions Court dismisses the mosque committee’s plea; committee then petitions the Allahabad HC.
October: Varanasi district court rejects Hindu petitioners’ plea for a scientific survey and carbon dating of the “Shivling”; they approach Allahabad HC.
November 11: The SC extends interim direction securing area of the complex where the “Shivling” was found, without restricting the rights of Muslims to access the mosque and offer namaz.
May: The Allahabad HC orders a “scientific survey”, including carbon dating, to determine the age of the “Shivling”.
July 21: A Varanasi district court asks for a “scientific investigation/ survey/ excavation” of the mosque premises by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), directing it to “find out…whether the [present structure] has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.”
July 24: The SC orders an interim stay on the survey after being petitioned by the mosque committee.
July 25: The mosque committee moves the Allahabad HC against the district court’s orders.
August 3: The Allahabad HC dismisses the pleas filed by the Muslim side. The ASI survey resumes a day later.
December 11: The Varanasi district court grants the ASI one more week to submit its survey findings. The ASI complies.
December 19: The Allahabad HC dismisses the Muslim side’s challenge to a 1991 case related to the Gyanvapi complex claiming that the Muslim community had illegally occupied the property.
January 25: Court hands over ASI report to the Hindu and Muslim sides.
