A Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and PS Narasimha on Tuesday issued notice and ordered the DM of Varanasi to ensure that the area where the shivling is indicated to be in the impugned order to have been found shall be duly protected, without any restrain to the access of muslims to the mosque.
Meanwhile, a local Varanasi court removed Advocate-Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra from his post for leaking information from the survey to the media.
On Tuesday, the Varanasi court directed that a spot in the mosque complex be sealed after it was claimed by a court-appointed advocate commissioner that a shivling was found during the said survey.
Varanasi court had ordered the survey on petitions moved by five Hindu women
Petitioners asked for year-long access to pray at a Hindu shrine behind the western wall of the mosque complex
Hindu prayers were currently permitted once a year at the spot
Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, bars conversion of places of worship
'Hope SC Will Completely Stay Varanasi Court's Order': Owaisi
"We're hopeful the Supreme Court will do complete justice as grave procedural unfairness happened. Commissioner didn't give report to lower court judge, petitioner moved application and before notice was given to Muslim side, judge passed order to protect area and limiting namazis to 20," AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, ANI reported.
He added, "The order is unfair, we hope the SC will completely stay the order and recognise unfairness in ignoring the 1991 Places of Worship Act, Allahabad HC order and sealing without hearing the other party. The order of the trial court was wrong, unfair and illegal."
'Not Done Anything That Reveals Secrecy of Matter': Former Court Commissioner Ajay Mishra
Reacting to his removal, Former Court Commissioner Ajay Mishra said, "I've not done anything that reveals the secrecy of the matter. I was removed because of the allegations of Advocate Vishal Singh. I will respect the Court order. Whatever has happened is only because of Vishal."
Gyanvapi Like Incidents Stirred by BJP as They Don't Have Answer to Inflation & Unemployment: Akhilesh
Commenting on the matter, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that Gynavapi-like incidents are being stirred up by the BJP itself or by their aides behind veil.
"Fuel and food amenities are getting expensive. They don't have answer on inflation and unemployment. BJP has hate calendar to bring up such issues until elections," the SP chief said, according to ANI.
"When we witness such debates, we don't know what property of the country has been sold. BJP gave slogan of 'One Nation One Ration', but it seems they're working for 'One Nation One Businessman'."
'Varanasi Court Has Granted Two Days Time to Submit the Report': Assistant Court Commissioner Ajay Pratap Singh
Meanwhile, Assistant Court Commissioner Ajay Pratap Singh told ANI UP that the court has granted two days time to them to submit their repot.
He also claimed that Ajay Kumar Mishra was removed from the post of advocate commissioner because he was not cooperating.