New Delhi: The Allahabad high court (HC) on Wednesday upheld a Varanasi district court order that said Hindu groups are not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and the suit seeking the right to worship inside the Gyanvapi mosque was maintainable, the Indian Express reported.

The HC dismissed a civil revision petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) that had challenged the Varanasi court order, and turned down AIMC’s objections to the maintainability of the suit filed by five Hindu women, the Hindustan Times reported.

LiveLaw reported the HC as saying, “According to plaintiffs, they worshipped Maa Sringar Gauri, Lord Hanuman at the disputed place regularly even after 15th August, 1947. Therefore, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 does not operate as bar on the suit of the plaintiffs and the suit of plaintiffs is not barred by Section 9 of the Act.”

The Hindu petitioners are claiming that the mosque was built on the site of a temple, while the Muslim side argued that the mosque was built on Wakf premises, and the Places of Worship Act barred changing the character of the mosque, the Indian Express report said.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, bars conversion of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947. The mosque side had argued that the 1991 law bars the civil suit seeking right to worship in the mosque premises. The Hindu side argued that until 1993, regular worship of Maa Shringar Gauri was allowed in the “back side of Gyanvapi”. Since 1993, they said, the district administration of Varanasi restricted the entry to only once a year, according to the report.

On September 12 last year, the Varanasi district court dismissed AIMC’s challenge to the Hindu women’s civil suit. “According to the plaintiffs, even after 15th August, 1947 they were worshiping Maa Sringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh and Lord Hanuman daily up to the year 1993. If this contention is proved then the suit is not barred by Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991,” the court had said.

The mosque committee then filed a revision petition in the HC, which was dismissed by Justice J J Munir on Wednesday, the Indian express report said.

“This judgment has the potential to establish a precedent that could lead to an increase in frivolous lawsuits concerning disputes between Hindu temples and mosques. By entertaining their cleverly drafted claims that they are not explicitly seeking the religious conversion of the place or a change in its religious character, which is specifically barred by Section 4 of the Places of Worship Act, the court has opened up a Pandora’s box of legal challenges. In reality, what they actually want is not hidden from anyone here,” said Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi, who appeared on behalf of the mosque committee, told the Indian Express.

“I hope that the day is not far when we will construct a grand Shiv temple there and the present structure will be removed,” said Hari Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing the Hindu side.

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