All India Muslim Jamaat (AIMJ) National President Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi on Saturday said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement that Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi is actually a Vishwanath Temple is unfortunate.
The High Court dismissed a petition filed by the Anjuman Intejamia Masjid Committee against the Varanasi district court's order allowing Hindus to offer prayers.
The Masjid Committee had approached the Supreme Court’s Registrar for an urgent hearing of its application seeking status quo at the Gyanvapi mosque site.
Following the release of a survey report by the Archeological Survey of India, confirming evidence of Hindu temples, today's Jumma (prayers held by muslims on every friday) at the disputed Gyanvapi mosque holds a special importance.
The court asked the Varanasi court to complete hearing in one of these civil suits, filed in 1991, within six months.
The Allahabad High Court is expected to give a verdict on a petition against a lower court order for a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India inside the mosque complex, except the ‘wuzukhana’ (fountain).
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team reached the Gyanvapi Mosque on Monday in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi to conduct a scientific survey of the mosque complex, adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The Allahabad High Court had on May 12 asked the Archaeological Survey of India to carry out carbon dating and scientific investigation of the structure that is a bone of contention between the warring parties.
During the survey, a structure -- claimed to be a "Shivling" by the Hindu side and a "fountain" by the Muslim side -- was found in the mosque premises on May 16 last year.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine on April 14, a plea for alternative arrangement for 'wuzu' for worshippers at Gyanvapi mosque, Varanasi. The plea said that due to Ramazan, the number of worshippers have increased.
