On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted a request to postpone the hearing on the plea challenging the orders of a Varanasi court in the Gyanvapi dispute until Friday. The court instructed the Varanasi court, where the proceedings are pending, not to take any further action in the matter until the scheduled hearing.
Justice D Y Chandrachud, presiding over the bench, announced that the matter would be heard at 3 pm on Friday. This decision was made after learning that Senior Advocate Hari Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side before the Varanasi court, had been discharged from the hospital just on Wednesday, having been indisposed on the last hearing date.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing the Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, Varanasi, informed the bench about an application to demolish a wall near the wazu khana, expressing concern that proceedings were ongoing.
In response, the court noted that proceedings could not continue if the hearing was deferred. The bench advised Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who requested the adjournment, not to press for a hearing before the trial court on Thursday, considering the apprehension expressed by the other side.
The counsel agreed to this suggestion, and the court recorded it. The bench directed the trial court to strictly adhere to its previous order and refrain from taking any further action in the suit.
On May 17, the Supreme Court, while refusing to stay proceedings before a Varanasi court related to the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex, instructed the Varanasi district magistrate to secure the area where a Shivling was claimed to have been found during a videographic survey of the mosque area, without impeding the rights of Muslims to access and offer namaz at the mosque.
In response to a petition by five Hindu women seeking access to pray at a shrine behind the western wall of the mosque complex, the Varanasi court, on April 8, appointed Advocate Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra to conduct an inspection, prepare videography, and submit a report. The mosque committee challenged this in the Allahabad High Court, which dismissed the plea on April 21. Subsequently, the committee approached the Supreme Court.
