NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court bench that will hear the case involving the Gyanvapi Mosque survey has a unique makeup. Both of the bench’s judges were involved in a similar dispute involving the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. However, one of them was working as a lawyer at the time.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the mosque, will file a petition against the survey of the mosque grounds on Tuesday before a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and PS Narasimha. The committee has requested a stay of the civil court-ordered survey in Varanasi.
The inspection, videography, and collection of evidence regarding the presence of Hindu deities inside the mosque next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple were permitted as part of the survey.
For the second time, Chandrachud is hearing a case involving a temple-mosque dispute. He was a member of the five-judge panel that ruled in favour of the Hindus in the Raamjanmabhoomi-Babri title dispute in 2019.
In 2019, Narasimha was not a judge, but he was involved in the case as a senior lawyer who represented the Hindus in the Ayodhya case. In the case, he represented Rajendra Singh, Gopal Singh Visharad’s survivor, before a five-judge panel. In 1950, Visharad petitioned the court for a declaration that “he is entitled to offer worship at the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram Chandra without any obstruction according to the rites and tenets of his religion.” Visharad also requested a “permanent prohibitory injunction against the removal of Lord Ram idols from their birthplace.”
Over two years later, Chandrachud and Narasimha will be involved in a case that is similar to the Ayodhya dispute, but this time as judges.
