Court holds writ by Hindu petitioners in Gyanvapi case maintainable: What does this mean

New Delhi, Sep 12: A district court in Varanasi today, September 12 held that the writ petition filed by the Hindu petitioners is maintainable. The court also said that the matter would be next heard on September 22.

This means that the court felt that the the plea made by the five Hindu women has merit. The court will now hear the case on merit and decide whether the Hindu women will be allowed to worship in a part of the Mosque which is situated next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

The current controversy started when a plea by Delhi women Rakhi Singh, Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu and others sought permission to perform daily worship of deities Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman and Nandi whose idols are located on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

The women had moved the court with their plea on April 18, 2021, and also sought a court's order to stop the opponents from causing any damage to the idols.

This case had once again brought to the fore the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 was enacted to "prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947 and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto".

The Act extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Section 3 of the Act bars the conversion of places of worship. "No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof," it says.

If, on the commencement of this Act, any suit, appeal or other proceeding with respect to the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, existing on the 15th day of August, 1947, is pending before any court, tribunal or other authority, the same shall abate, and no suit, appeal or other proceeding with respect to any such matter shall lie on or after such commencement in any court, tribunal or other authority:

Provided that if any suit, appeal or other proceeding, instituted or filed on the ground that conversion has taken place in the religious character of any such place after the 15th day of August, 1947, is pending on the commencement of this Act, such suit, appeal or other proceeding shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1).