Muslim Personal Law Board Likely To Appeal Court Order For ASI Survey Of Kashi Vishwanath - Gyanvapi Complex: Report

A day after the district court of Varanasi has given approval for the survey of Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Muslim Personal Law Board and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board are likely to challenge the court's orders.

Terming the order as 'illegal and unjustified', the Muslim Personal Law Board member informed that the decision would be challenged at the district court or the High Court, reports Republic World.

Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board’s chairman Zufar Ahmad Faruqi claimed that no evidence had been produced to the court so far to prove the prior existing temple at the site of the mosque.

He said that the status of Gyanvapi Masjid is, as such, beyond question as the Places of Worship Act was upheld by a five judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya judgment.

Also Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi expressed his astonishment at the court order and tweeted, “1991 places of worship act specifically includes Kashi and Mathura places of worship to bar inquiry into such places, it is astonishing how civil judge could pass the interim direction for ASI inquiry, unless 1991(Places of Worship) act repealed or struck down! Eye for eye will make the globe blind!”

The order came on Thursday (8 April) a petition filed by a local lawyer VS Rastogi who had demanded the restoration of the land entailing Gyanvapi Mosque to Hindus. The Gyanvapi Mosque management committee had opposed the petition.

The Gyanvapi Mosque, which adjoins the present Kashi Vishwanath Temple, was built by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1669 after allegedly demolishing a Hindu temple.

Hindus claim that the original Vishwanath Temple existed on the site of the alleged demolition. An application was filed by Hindus in the Varanasi district court in 1991 seeking ownership of the disputed site. The Muslim side is also a party in the case.