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In fresh developments in the Gyanvapi case, advocate Sohan Lal Arya, who is one of the lawyers representing the women petitioners in the Shringar Gauri case, has claimed that he received a threatening call from a Pakistani number and the caller threatened to behead him like Rajasthan’s Kanhaiya Lal.
Readers would recall that Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor from Rajasthan had been beheaded by two Islamic fundamentalists in Udaipur for sharing a post in support of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma who had previously made derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed on a television news debate show. In a viral video of the beheading shot by the attackers – Riyaz and Gos Mohammed – they had used the phrase “Sar tan se juda” to refer to the beheading.
According to a report in the Hindi language publication Hindustan, the person who called and threatened Arya, also used the same phrase. Arya has faced similar threats earlier as well and has been granted police protection.
Arya is married to Laxmi Devi, one of the petitioners in the Shringar Gauri case where her fellow Hindu women have sought the right to resume prayers at a temple of the deity Shringar Gauri that is located on the Gyanvapi mosque premises.
Meanwhile, the fast-track court of civil judge (senior division) Mahendra Kumar Pandey has adjourned hearings in the case to September 5, after the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid (AIM), the committee that manages the Gyanvapi mosque, moved an application saying that the case is not maintainable.
In fact the very subject of maintainability of the main suit is being examined by the court of district judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesha separately.
The fast-track court of judge Pandey is hearing a very specific aspect of the wider Gyanvapi case. This matter pertains to a petition moved by the Vishwa Vaidik Sanatan Sangh (VVSS) that makes three key demands:
The Muslim devotees and personnel of the AIM be prohibited from entering the Gyanvapi complex
The Gyanvapi complex be handed over to Hindus so that prayers as per Hindu traditions can take place there
Daily prayers to the deity Adi Vishveshwar commence immediately
The petition was moved by Kiran Singh Visen, family member of VVSS president Jitendra Singh Visen, as next friend of the deity Adi Vishveswar. This petition was originally moved before the court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar, the judge who had originally ordered the video survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.
But the Supreme Court transferred the wider Gyanvapi case from judge Diwakar to District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesha, asking him to first rule on the matter surrounding the maintainability of the suit as per provisions of Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). So, when the VVSS filed the petition demanding prohibition of access to Muslim devotees, judge Vishwesha transferred this specific petition on May 25 to the fast-track court of civil judge (senior division) Mahendra Kumar Pandey.
Related:
Gyanvapi case: Plea moved before SC challenging Allahabad HC’s order dismissing PIL to verify “Shivling” claims
Gyanvapi case: SC to wait for Varanasi district court’s decision on suit maintainability
Gyanvapi case: Fast-track court permits corrections to petition