Supreme Court starts hearing in the Gyanvapi case

Both judges on the Supreme Court bench hearing an appeal against the survey of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex have a connection to the same kind of dispute over the Babri mosque.

Muslims were allowed to perform the namaz and other “religious observances” inside the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex after a bench made up of Justices DY Chandrachud and PS Narasimha issued a directive on Tuesday to the district magistrate of Varanasi.

The survey ordered by a civil court in Varanasi has been put on hold by the committee.

For the second time, Justice Chandrachud is sitting in on a case involving a dispute between a temple and a mosque.

Ranjan Gogoi presided over a five-judge constitution bench on November 9 that approved the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and ordered the government to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque at the disputed site.

In the Ayodhya case, Justice Narasimha appeared for the Hindu side as a senior lawyer before becoming a judge of the Supreme Court.

In the case of Rajendra Singh, the survivor of Gopal Singh Visharad, he appeared before the Constitution Bench.

As far back as 1950, Visharad had sought permission to “offer worship without any obstruction” at the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram Chandra “in accordance with the rites and tenets of his religion” without interference.