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Petitioners continue their arguments in Gyanvapi case
“Once the property is vested in the deity, its ownership will never change. It will remain the property of the deity till the doomsday,” argued senior advocate Harishankar Jain, representing the four Hindu women petitioners, who have sought permission for daily worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex.
The ownership of a property if vested in the deity will never change, Hindu petitioners argued on Thursday as the Varanasi district court continued hearing in the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal-Gyanvapi complex case for the third consecutive day.
“Once the property is vested in the deity, its ownership will never change. It will remain the property of the deity till the doomsday,” argued senior advocate Harishankar Jain, representing the four Hindu women petitioners, who have sought permission for daily worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex.
Jain referred to the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi case and the Hindu law as he continued the arguments against a plea filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee — which manages the Gyanvapi Masjid — challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by the Hindu women.
He argued that the “property of the deity is never destroyed, its existence will not end due to the destruction of the temple and its spiritual nature will remain intact”.
“It is said that the invisible deity is also valid in Hindu law, even after the removal of the deity, the place of the deity remains the same,” he argued.
Earlier, the five Hindu women — Rakhi Singh of Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh; and Varanasi residents Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak — filed the petition on August 18, 2021 seeking the permission to perform daily worship of deities Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman and Nandi whose idols are on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque.
A lower court later ordered a videography survey of the complex. The survey work was completed on May 16 and the report was presented in the court on May 19. The Hindu side claimed in the court that a Shivling was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex. On the Supreme Court’s order, the matter is now being heard by the district court from May 23.
Senior advocate Jain and his lawyer son Vishnu Shankar Jain presented the arguments of the Hindu petitioners in the Varanasi district court, which posted the matter for further hearing on Friday (July 15).
The Hindu side also argued that the Gyanvapi mosque complex is not the property of the Waqf Board and the case over it should be heard in its entirety, said district government advocate Rana Sanjeev Singh.
Singh told reporters in Varanasi that advocates for the Hindu plaintiff said the Muslim side has not presented any evidence stating that the Gyanvapi complex is the property of the Waqf Board. Since the Gyanvapi complex is not the property of the board, the case deserves to be heard in its entirety, they argued.
Mumtaz Ahmad, one of the lawyers for Anjuman Committee, said, “We will present our counter arguments once the advocates for the petitioners conclude their arguments.”
