Gyanvapi Mosque Dispute

Gyanvapi Mosque Dispute

Subject : Art and Culture

Context : Varanasi District and Sessions Court dismissing the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee’s plea challenging the maintainability of the civil suits filed by five Hindu women seeking the right to worship at the complex, is the interpretation of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

Concept :

• The Gyanvapi Mosque is located in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• It is a popular belief that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built in 1669 by the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb by demolishing the ancient Vishweshwar temple.
• In Saqib Khan’s book ‘Yasir Alamgiri’, it is also mentioned that Aurangzeb had demolished the temple in 1669 by ordering Governor Abul Hassan.
• Then about a century later, Ahilya Holkar, the queen of Indore built a new Kashi Vishwanath temple next to the mosque in 1780.
• It is considered the most significant shrine of Lord Shiva by many. It is one of the more prominent of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva, Vishveshvara or Vishvanath, that is also mentioned in the Skanda Purana.

Gyanvapi Mosque Case History

• The case of Gyanvapi mosque has been in court since 1991, when three persons, including Pandit Somnath Vyas, a descendant of the priests of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, filed a suit in the court of the civil judge of Varanasi claiming that Aurangzeb had demolished the temple of Lord Vishweshwar and built a mosque on it so that the land should be returned to them.
• On August 18, 2021, in the same court in Varanasi, five women had filed a petition demanding to worship in the temple of Mother Makeup Gauri, accepting which the court constituted a commission to know the present status of the Makeup Gauri Temple.
• At the same time, the Muslim side says that no decision can be given on the dispute under the Religious Places Act of 1991.

Places of Worship Act

https://optimizeias.com/places-of-worship-act-and-the-contesting-claims/