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A court in Varanasi, while hearing the Gyanvapi mosque case, said that it would pass orders on Tuesday, 24 May, regarding when the fresh hearings of the case will begin.
The court is also scheduled to decide on Tuesday whether the case regarding "maintainability" will be heard first, as requested by the mosque committee, Bar and Bench reported.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, had asked the court in Varanasi to decide if the survey conducted inside the mosque and the petition that allowed it were maintainable.
Dr Vishvesha, on the top court’s instructions, is slated to decide the application filed by the mosque committee under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, arguing the suit by Hindu devotees is barred by the Places of Worship Act on priority.
According to Bar and Bench, the purpose of Monday’s hearing was to chart out the way ahead and decipher how the hearings in this case would be conducted. Only the parties involved in the case and their counsel were allowed entry in the courtroom on Monday.
According to LiveLaw, even former court-appointed commissioner Ajay Mishra was not allowed inside the courtroom.
LiveLaw cited court employees as saying that only those whose name will be in the vakalatnama, will be allowed inside the courtroom.
Meanwhile, an application was reportedly filed under 156 (3) CrPC before Chief Judicial Magistrate for registration of FIR under sections 153A(2) and 505 (3) IPC against persons who allegedly performed wazoo, between 16-19 May, in the wazookhana where an alleged shivling was indicated by the Hindu petitioners to have been found. Pertinently, the apex court had on 20 May ordered that if adequate arrangements for wazoo (ritual washing) have not been made, then district magistrate in consultation with mosque committee should make proper arrangements.
(With inputs from LiveLaw and Bar and Bench.)
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