Indian court agrees to hear Hindu plea over disputed mosque

An Indian court in the city of Varanasi agreed to hear a plea by a group of Hindu women to pray inside a disputed mosque.

The five petitioners who filed the plea believe that the centuries-old Gyanvapi mosque in the north Indian city of Varanasi was built after a Muslim ruler tore down a medieval-era temple.

The petitioners, contending that the site still contains Hindu idols and motifs, have asked to be allowed to worship the "visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex."

A mosque committee had asked for the plea to be dismissed.  

According to Shivam Goud, a lawyer for the Hindu petitioners, the Muslim side had fail to make the case for the plea's dismissal.

The next hearing of the case is set for September 22.

"We are so happy, we have created history today," said Manju Vyas, a petitioner, after the verdict.

Why is the mosque a communal flashpoint?

The Gyanvapi mosque is located in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi. Due to recent discoveries, the historical site became yet another source of tension between Hindus and Muslims in India.

In May, a local court ordered authorities to conduct a video-recorded survey of the mosque's premises.

The survey reportedly discovered a Shivalinga, a stone shaft that is a representation of the Hindu god Shiva, at the site. This claim has since been rejected by the mosque authorities.

Following this development, the local judge banned large Muslim gatherings at the mosque, but India's Supreme Court later overturned the ruling.

The Muslim side contend that mosque was built about 600 years ago and remained a place of worship for Muslims ever since.

The Muslim side is expected to appeal the case to a higher court.

While disputes over religious sites have been recorded in India since its independence in 1947, they have been more frequent under the current nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

ss/dj (Reuters, AP)