The Supreme court has agreed to hear the Gyanvapi Masjid committee’s petitions in the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi Masjid case on July 21. With the Hindu Month of Shravan having started, a new set of petitions seeking the right to worship the purported ‘Shivling’ found on the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi Masjid complex has now been moved before the Supreme court.
A plea filed by a group of seven devotees was mentioned for an urgent hearing before the bench headed by CJI NV Ramana on Monday, July 18. “We have asked for a scientific survey of the matter by the ASI and have said that once the survey is done we should get the right to worship at the Shivling,” said Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer appearing on behalf of the Hindu party in the case.
The pleas sought the court’s orders to give possession of a structure’, purportedly a Shivling, found on the mosque premises to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple trust and to allow worship and rituals to be conducted there. The Masjid committee has, however, remained firm on its stand that the structure is nothing but a fountain.
It also called for carbon dating of the structure and a survey of the premises using ground penetrating radar technology or excavation to find out the “nature of construction under the Shivlingam”.
The devotees have also requested for live streaming camera equipment to be installed at the site of the “Shivling” to allow devotees to perform virtual darshan and a symbolic Puja of the Shivlingam, which could be offered from the idol of Nandi, which is installed near the disputed structure.
This is now the second petition before the apex court seeking access to worship the “Shivling” found inside the mosque during a survey conducted on the premises in May. However, the report of the survey has not yet been taken up for consideration by the Varanasi court.
