Gyanvapi mosque survey: Complex judges have Ayodhya verdict link

NEW DELHI: The hearing of the dispute arising from the purported location of a 'Shivling'within the Gyanvapi mosque at Varanasi and sealing off the 'wuzu khana' area was before a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and P S Narasimha, both of whom were directly connected to the historic Ayodhya verdict delivered by the apex court on November 9, 2019.
Justice Chandrachud was part of the five-judge bench headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, which delivered the unanimous verdict handing over the disputed land for construction of Ram temple. It was Justice Chandrachud who had extensively referred to the sanctity of the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1991 and the exception it had given to the Ayodhya dispute, thus indicating that it was impermissible under law to change character of any other place of worship from what it was at the time of Independence.
Justice Narasimha, who at the time of the Ayodhya judgment was a senior advocate, had appeared for a Hindu party pleading for the land to be given for construction of Ram Temple.