Varanasi court's decision on Gyanvapi Mosque-Shringar Gauri likely on September 12

The Varanasi district court, which had reserved its ruling on the maintainability of the petition seeking permission for daily worship at the Shringar Gauri temple, allegedly situated inside the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque premises, was likely to announce its verdict on Monday.

District judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesh had on August 24 reserved its ruling on the petition filed by five women seeking the right to worship in the Shringar Gauri temple.

The court had earlier ordered videography and survey inside the mosque premises on the petition. The report of the videography survey inside the Gyanvapi Mosque, which was adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, had already been submitted to the district court.

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Hindu petitioners' lawyers had earlier claimed that a 'shivling' was found at a small pond after which the court had ordered sealing of the place. The lawyers representing the Muslims, however, refuted the claim and said that what was being called a 'shivalinga' was in fact a 'fountain'. They also claimed that the Varanasi court did not hear the Muslim lawyers before passing the order to seal the place.

The lawyers for the Hindu petitioners, during the hearing of the petition, contended that a part of the temple had been demolished by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century.

The Muslim side contended that the Mosque existed before the reign of Aurangzeb and also claimed that the same had also been mentioned in the land records.

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.