Gyanvapi Case: Big Blow In Gyanvapi Case Petition Banning Entry of Non-Hindus Rejected (ज्ञानवापी केस: ज्ञानवापी मामले में बड़ा झटका गैर-हिंदुओं के प्रवेश पर रोक वाली याचिका खारिज)

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a PIL seeking to ban the entry of non-Hindus into the Gyanvapi campus of Varanasi. A division bench of Chief Justice Pritinkar Diwakar and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava heard on this.This PIL demanded that the entry of non-Hindus into the campus should be restricted and the Hindu symbols found in the Gyanvapi campus should be preserved until the Varanasi district court decides on the Shringar Gauri case. The PIL states that the centuries-old ruins of the Shri Adi Vishweshwar Temple (the present Gyanvapi campus) in Varanasi should be saved. It was claimed that the disputed site (Settlement Plot No. 9130 Ward and Dashashwamedh Varanasi) used to have a grand temple where Lord Shiva himself installed the Jyotirlinga.

This temple was destroyed by the Muslim ruler Aurangzeb in 1669. It is said that after the destruction of the said temple, the Muslims unauthorisedly encroached on the temple premises and built a structure called the Gyanvapi Masjid.