By Our Special Correspondent
A local court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on Monday dismissed a petition challenging a petition filed by five Hindu women seeking rights to worship Hindu deities with idols inside the Gnanavapi Masjid premises.
District Judge AK Visvesh, while delivering the judgment in the Gyanvapi-Srinagar Gowri dispute case, ordered that the petition filed seeking the right to worship at the temple can be maintained. The judge said that the court will continue the hearing on the petition and adjourned the next hearing to September 22.
"The court rejected the plea of Muslim and said the suit is maintainable. The next hearing of the case will be on September 22," said lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is representing the Hindu side in the case.
Sohan Lal Arya, a petitioner in the Gyanwapi case, called it a "victory for the Hindu community". "The next hearing is on September 22. This is the foundation stone of Gnanavapi temple. People are appealed to maintain law and order," Arya said.
Muslim lawyer Mohammad Sameem said that they will now approach the High Court. "We have pleaded that the listed case is not worth hearing. Our plea was rejected today. We will now approach the High Court.
The case has just started and it will continue," he told reporters. Five women have filed a petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities who are said to have idols on the outside wall of the mosque.
The Anjuman Intejamia Masjid Committee questioned the maintainability of the petition, arguing that the Gyanvapi Masjid was a waqf property. District Judge AK Visvesh had previously reserved this order for September 12. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) welcomed the Varanasi court's order on the issue and said everyone should accept it calmly and not think of it as a victory or defeat.
UP minister Danish Azad Ansari said that whatever the court's verdict, everyone should respect and follow it. "The court will hear all the sides and then come to a conclusion, we all have to respect the verdict given by the court and follow it," said the minister.
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