The first case in this episode was filed in Varanasi court in 1991. In the petition, permission was sought for worship in the Gyanvapi campus. In this, Somnath Vyas, Ramrang Sharma and Harihar Pandey became litigants on behalf of the ancient idol Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar.
In September 1991, the Central Government enacted the Place of Worship Act. It said that any religious place that came into existence before 15 August 1947 cannot be converted into a place of worship of other religions.
The Ayodhya issue was in the court before that, so it was kept out of the purview of the law. In the Gyanvapi case, the mosque committee challenged the petition in the High Court, citing this law. After this, in 1993, the Allahabad High Court ordered to maintain the status quo by imposing a stay.
In 2018, the Supreme Court ordered that the validity of the stay order in any case will be only for six months. After this this order will not be considered effective.
After this order, in 2019, the hearing in this case started again in the Varanasi court.
In 2021, the Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court of Varanasi granted approval for the archaeological survey of Gyanvapi Masjid. A commission was appointed in the order and this commission was ordered to videograph Shringar Gauri on 6 and 7 May in the presence of both the parties. By May 10, the court had asked for complete information regarding this.
On May 6, 2022, the first day’s survey could be done. The next day, on 7 May 2022, the Muslim side opposed it and the matter reached the court.
On May 12, 2022, while hearing the petition of the Muslim side, the court rejected the demand to replace the commissioner and ordered to complete the survey work by May 17 and submit the report.
On 14 May 2022, the Supreme Court refused immediate hearing on the petition of the Muslim side. In this petition, a demand was made to ban the survey in Gyanvapi Masjid.
From May 14, 2022, the survey work of Gyanvapi was resumed. In this, all the closed rooms till the well were investigated. Along with making a video of this entire process, photography was also done.
The survey work was completed on 16 May 2022. The Hindu side claimed that it was confirmed to be a Hindu site during this period. While the Muslim side denied it.
On 24 May 2022, Kiran Singh filed a new petition demanding a ban on Muslims offering Namaz in the Gyanvapi campus. Along with this, permission was sought to hand over the premises to the Hindus and for regular worship of the Shivling allegedly found in the premises during the survey.
On 25 May 2022, District Judge AK Vishvesh shifted the petition to the fast track court.
On October 15, 2022, the arguments of both the parties were completed in the court and the date of October 27 was fixed for the order.
By October 18, 2022, both the parties were asked to file written arguments.
On May 12, 2023, the Allahabad High Court accepted the petition filed for carbon dating investigation and scientific survey of Shivling found during the survey. In this way the High Court changed the decision of the District Judge of Varanasi. In this matter, the Archaeological Survey of India had submitted its report on 11 May 2022 in a sealed envelope.
