Allahabad HC Dismisses As Withdrawn PIL Seeking Sealing Of Gyanvapi Premises And Ban On Entry Of Non-Hindus

Prayagraj, August 8 (TNA) The Allahabad High Court (HC) on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought a ban on the entry of non-Hindus in the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi. "How do we stop non-Hindus from entering a Mosque?”, the double bench of Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Pritinkar Diwakar and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava observed while rejecting the plea.

Thereafter the Hindu side withdrew its petition that was filed on behalf of Rakhi Singh and others. The PIL had demanded that the entry of non-Hindus into the campus be restricted until the verdict of the Varanasi court in the Shringar Gauri case.

It was also said in the petition that an order should be given to preserve the Hindu symbols found in the Gyanvapi campus. It was also demanded from the court that such arrangements should be made so that the work of ASI survey in Gyanvapi is not affected. Advocate Saurabh Tiwari filed a public interest litigation on behalf of the petitioners.

During the hearing, the CJ asked the counsel for the petitioner, do you want to stop the work of ASI? Not the petitioner, only in prayer we have requested not to stop the ASI survey. We want to stop the entry of only non-Hindus to the disputed site, the counsel of the Hindu side pointed out.

The petitioner's counsel told the court that the number of people entering the mosque had increased from the day before, to which the CJ said would you fix the numbers? Do you want to withdraw your petition or should we pass an order on merits..? The petitioner said that I would like to withdraw, after which the Court of Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition as withdrawn.