After a Varanasi District Court on Monday, 12 September, said that a petition seeking permission to worship Hindu deities at the Gyanvapi mosque's outer wall was maintainable, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that there should be a high court appeal against the order.
"There should be an appeal in High Court against this order. I hope Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee will appeal against this order," he said.
On Monday, District Judge AK Vishvesh passed the order on the maintainability of the plea and rejected the Order 7 Rule 11 application of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee.
The Anjuman Committee had said that the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf property and had challenged the maintainability of the plea on the ground that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act ,1991, expressly bars conversion of any place of worship into anything different from the religious character of the place as it was on 15 August 1947 (with the exception of the Ayodhya dispute).
Owaisi told ANI, "I believe that after this order, the purpose of the Places of Worship Act 1991 will fail."
He further warned of an alleged "destabilising effect" following the court's verdict and compared it to the Babri Masjid case.
The AIMIM chief added:
"We're going on the same path as that of the Babri masjid issue."
Petitioners Celebrate Varanasi Court Verdict
Subsequent to the verdict, several petitioners and supporters were seen celebrating and chanting amid heavy police security.
Petitioner Manju Vyas, dancing and celebrating, said:
Fellow petitioner Sohan Lal Arya said, "It's a win for the Hindu community."
"The next hearing is on Sep 22. It's a foundation stone for the Gyanvapi temple," Arya told ANI.
Senior advocate Harishankar Jain, representing the petitioners, said that the verdict was a "grand victory" and added, "The arguments we made were accepted by the court and they said that the suit is maintainable. They also said that the Places of Worship Act does not apply."
Furthermore, lawyer Sudhir Tripathi said, "You can say that the verdict is in our favour, their plea was scrapped. The next hearing, on 22 September, will take place in the same court."
Advocate SN Chaturvedi was quoted by ANI as saying, "Next hearing on commission report. Wall should be broken, survey should be done. Will ask for carbon dating to be done."
(With inputs from ANI.)
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