Editor's Pick: Hindu women’s suit in Gyanvapi case maintainable, says court

On Monday, a Varanasi district court dismissed an application filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women seeking the right to worship Hindu deities within the Gyanvapi mosque premises all year round. The court ruled that neither the Places of Worship Act, 1991, nor the Waqf Act, 1995, nor the U.P. Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, bar the suit and that the “plaintiffs will have right to prove their averments by cogent evidence”. The next hearing is slated for September 22. The 1991 Act seals the religious character of all places of worship as it stood on August 15, 1947, and mandates that any case seeking the conversion of such a place into that of another religion should be abated. The suit, filed by Rakhi Singh and four other women, claimed Hindus had been worshipping Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha and other visible and invisible deities daily at the said property till as recently as 1993, after which the Uttar Pradesh government restricted the worship to one day a year. The court noted that the suit filed by the Hindu women “is limited and confined to the right of worship as a civil right and fundamental right as well as customary and religious right” and emphasised that the suit neither sought a declaration or injunction over the property in question, nor did it seek the conversion of the mosque into a temple. Moreover, the court held that irrespective of the immunity mosques have from State acquisition in Islamic countries, its status and immunity from acquisition in the “secular ethos of India under the Constitution is the same and equal to that of places of worship of other religions”. Shooting down the Masjid panel's argument that the property in question was registered as that of the waqf by producing revenue records, the court held, “merely on the basis of entries in revenue record, no presumption of title can be drawn regarding a mosque or a temple”. The district court has called for written statements from all parties to suit and set September 22 as the date for when it is expected to frame the issues along which the suit will be tried. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials Three to tangle: On U.S. refitting Pakistan F-16s Well won: On Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup victory The Hindu’s Daily Quiz The upcoming in-person summit of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) is being held in which city? Samarkand Ashgabat Tashkent Tblisi To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 13 SEPTEMBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Hindu women’s suit in Gyanvapi case maintainable, says court On Monday, a [Varanasi district court dismissed an application]( filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women seeking the right to worship Hindu deities within the Gyanvapi mosque premises all year round. The court ruled that neither the [Places of Worship Act, 1991]( nor the Waqf Act, 1995, nor the U.P. Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, bar the suit and that the “plaintiffs will have right to prove their averments by cogent evidence”. The next hearing is slated for September 22. The 1991 Act seals the religious character of all places of worship as it stood on August 15, 1947, and mandates that any case seeking the conversion of such a place into that of another religion should be abated. The suit, filed by Rakhi Singh and four other women, claimed Hindus had been worshipping Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha and other visible and invisible deities daily at the said property till as recently as 1993, after which the Uttar Pradesh government restricted the worship to one day a year. The court noted that the suit filed by the Hindu women “is limited and confined to the right of worship as a civil right and fundamental right as well as customary and religious right” and emphasised that the suit neither sought a declaration or injunction over the property in question, nor did it seek the conversion of the mosque into a temple. Moreover, the court held that irrespective of the immunity mosques have from State acquisition in Islamic countries, its status and immunity from acquisition in the “secular ethos of India under the Constitution is the same and equal to that of places of worship of other religions”. Shooting down the Masjid panel's argument that the property in question was registered as that of the waqf by producing revenue records, the court held, “merely on the basis of entries in revenue record, no presumption of title can be drawn regarding a mosque or a temple”. The district court has called for written statements from all parties to suit and set September 22 as the date for when it is expected to frame the issues along which the suit will be tried. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. 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