LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday ordered speedy trial of the 32-year-old case seeking the restoration of a temple on the disputed site in Varanasi, where the Gyanvapi mosque now stands as it dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the maintainability of the 1991 suits filed by Hindu plaintiffs.
The bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal dismissed five petitions related to the maintainability of the suit and also against a survey of the mosque premises, filed over the years by the mosque management committee and the Uttar Pradesh Central Sunni Waqf Board. The bench held that the suits filed by the Hindu side are maintainable and not barred by the Places of Worship Act 1991.
In the order, Justice Agarwal said that the Gyanvapi mosque premises could have either a Muslim character or a Hindu character and the same cannot be decided at the stage of framing issues. Calling for speedy trial, the HC said: “As the suit affects two major communities, we direct the trail court to decide the suit expeditiously in six months. No unnecessary adjournment shall be granted to any of the parties.”
The HC had on December 8, 2023 reserved its order on all petitions of the Muslim side challenging the maintainability of the batch of title suits pending before a Varanasi court seeking restoration of the temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque exists.