The Gyanvapi Mosque in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi — the area that Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents in parliament — is one of several in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh that some Hindus believe were built about demolished Hindu temples.
The dispute over land ownership has been one of the most contentious issues between the country’s Hindu majority, 80% of the population, and the Muslim majority, which is almost 14% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, a lawyer representing the Hindu plaintiffs, said the state Supreme Court on Thursday authorized the state Archaeological Survey of India to inspect the structure without causing damage.
“The scientific study is necessary in the interest of justice,” said Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker, as quoted by the Live Law legal information portal.
For their part, the Muslim petitioners are against the study because, they say, it will damage the structure.
Khalid Rasheed, one of the applicants, said the mosque committee can appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of India.
“We hope that justice will be done as the mosque is 600 years old and Muslims have been praying in it for many years,” Rasheed told reporters.
The Archaeological Survey of India began its study last month, but the project was suspended by the Supreme Court to allow time for an appeal. The court decision was announced Thursday.
Earlier, five Hindu women had asked a court for permission to perform rituals of their faith in a part of the mosque, alleging that there was once a Hindu temple there.
State law provides that the nature of all places of worship, except the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, must be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and holds that converting them to another faith is illegal.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
