How SC judges hearing Gyanvapi case were associated with Babri matter

The Supreme Court bench, which will hear the case relating to the Gyanvapi Mosque survey, has an interesting composition. Both the judges of the bench have had an association with a similar dispute involving Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. One of them, though, was as a lawyer then.

On Tuesday, the bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and PS Narasimha will consider a petition of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the mosque, against the survey of the mosque premises. The committee has sought a stay of the Varanasi civil court-mandated survey.

The survey has been allowed for the inspection, videography, and the collection of evidence regarding the existence of Hindu deities inside the mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

Chandrachud is hearing a case involving a temple-mosque dispute for the second time. In 2019, he was part of the five-judge bench, which decided in favour of the Hindu side in the Raamjanmabhoomi-Babri title dispute.

Narasimha was not a judge in 2019 but was associated with the case as a senior lawyer, who appeared for the Hindu side in the Ayodhya case. He argued before the five-judge bench for Rajendra Singh, the survivor of Gopal Singh Visharad, in the case. Visharad first approached the court in 1950 for a declaration that “he is entitled to offer worship without any obstruction according to the rites and tenets of his religion at the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram Chandra.” Visharad also sought a “permanent prohibitory injunction against the removal of the idols of Lord Ram situated at the place of birth.”

Over two years later, Chandrachud and Narasimha will be associated with the case similar to that relating to the Ayodhya dispute but as judges.