Hindu women seek worship rights inside Gyanvapi Mosque premises

The women contended that they were entitled to worship the visible and invisible gods and goddesses inside the old Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque complex

A Varanasi court has admitted an application moved by five Hindu women seeking permission to worship Mata Shringar Gauri (a Hindu goddess) and other gods and goddesses inside the disputed Gyanvapi Mosque complex and has sought responses from the state government and others.

The women contended in their application that they were entitled to worship the visible and invisible gods and goddesses inside the old Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque complex and that their rights were being denied.

They also sought the court's direction to the concerned authorities and the Gyanvapi Mosque Management Committee to ensure that the idols of the deities were not damaged.

Senior civil judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, while seeking responses from the state government, Kashi Vishwanath Trust and Gyanvapi Mosque Management Committee and other officials, fixed September ten for further hearing of the matter.

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The Hindus contend that the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb had demolished the Kashi Vishwanath Temple which had been built over two thousand years back and that the Gyanvapi Mosque was also a part of the Temple.

Earlier a court in Varanasi had ordered for an archaeological survey at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque premises. The court has directed the Archaeological Society of India to form a five member team and study the entire premises.

The Muslim side had pleaded that the situation, as it was on August 15, 1947, should be allowed to continue.

The premises had been a bone of contention between the two communities for the past several decades but there was renewed clamor to "take back" the Kashi Vishwanath Temple premises by the saffron outfits after the favourable decision of the apex court in the Ram Temple case.