In a crucial judgment in the Gyanvapi case, the Allahabad High Court today rejected all petitions by the mosque committee challenging civil suits that seek restoration of a temple at the mosque site. The high court asked the Varanasi court to complete hearing in one of these civil suits, filed in 1991, within six months. 

The case relates to Gyanvapi mosque, located next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. The high court was hearing five petitions – three from the Gyanvapi mosque committee and two from Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board. Three of these petitions challenged the maintainability of a suit filed before the Varanasi court in 1991. 

The 1991 suit, filed before the Varanasi court on behalf of deity Adi Vishveswar Virajman, had sought control of the disputed premises and permission for worship there. Challenging this suit, the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had argued that it is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which restricts altering the character of a religious places as it existed on August 15, 1947.

The petitioners of the 1991 suit had argued that Gyanvapi dispute pre-dated Independence and will not come under the Places of Worship Act. 

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal today said the 1991 suit is maintainable and not barred by the Places of Religious Worship Act, 1991. Justice Agarwal had on December 8 reserved his judgment after hearing the counsels of the petitioners and the respondent. 

The court today said the mosque compound can have either a Muslim character or a Hindu character and this cannot be decided at the stage of framing issues. “The suit affects two major communities of the country… We direct the trial court to expeditiously decide the suit in 6 months,” the court said. 

The suit pending before the Varanasi court seeks the restoration of an ancient temple at the disputed site where the mosque is now located. It argues that the mosque is part of the temple.

IPL 2024 Auction Updates: We are just minutes away from the start of the IPL 2024 auction! The 10 franchises have over Rs 262 crore to spend to 77 players from a pool of 332 players. The Indian Premier League 2024 auction will have several big names like Mitchell Starc, Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Shardul Thakur among others. Starc has been predicted to breach the all-time record of highest bid of Rs 18.50 crore. Gujarat Titans (GT) has the highest purse remaining – Rs 38.15 crore. The other teams and their remaining purse are: Sunrisers Hyderabad (Rs 34 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 32.7 crore), Chennai Super Kings (Rs 31.4 crore), Punjab Kings (Rs 29.1 crore), Delhi Capitals (Rs 28.95 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 23.25 crore), Mumbai Indians (Rs 17.75 crore), Rajasthan Royals (Rs 14.5 crore), and Lucknow Super Giants (Rs 13.15 crore).

Here are the LIVE updates of the IPL 2024 auction straight from Dubai:

Adding to the shock surrounding the suspension of 79 Opposition MPs from Parliament in a single day, as many as 49 members faced the same action today. This has taken the total number of MPs suspended this session to a whopping 141, the highest ever.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram, NCP’s Supriya Sule and Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav are among the MPs suspended by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for disrupting proceedings today.

The Opposition MPs have been protesting in both Houses of Parliament over the massive security breach in Lok Sabha last week. They have been demanding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah address the Parliament on the security failure due to which two intruders entered the Lok Sabha chamber, jumped from desk and desk and released coloured smoke from canisters.

The Lok Sabha Speaker has maintained that any security-related incident in the House comes under the purview of the secretariat, and it will not let the centre intervene. “The government cannot intervene in (responsibilities of) Lok Sabha secretariat. We will not allow that either,” he said last week.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview to Dainik Jagran newspaper, described the security breach as a “very serious” matter and said it should be probed. He has, however, said there is no need for a debate on this.

The spree of suspensions began last week. A day after the security breach, Opposition MPs started demanding a statement by the Home Minister. Thirteen Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP were suspended on the grounds of unruly behaviour. Yesterday, the Opposition MPs resumed their protest. This led to a record 79 suspensions across both Houses. Today’s 49 add to the spree.

Out of these 141 MPs, most have been suspended for the remainder of the session, while some await a report by the privileges committee on their conduct in the House.

The Opposition MPs have been protesting against their suspension on Parliament premises.

Responding to the latest round of suspensions, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that a “complete purge is being executed so that draconian Bills are passed without any meaningful debate”. He alleged that the suspension spree is also aimed at shielding the BJP MP whose office had facilitated the entry of two Parliament intruders.

“The new Parliament reflects Namocracy in all its tyranny,” Mr Ramesh, one of the suspended MPs, added in his post.

Today’s suspensions came after Opposition members raised slogans and some of them came to the Well of the House. Many of the MPs waved placards and some carried a morphed picture of Prime Minister Modi. The Speaker said it was against the rules to bring placards into the House.

“This House belongs to you. We all have decided that no one will bring placards inside the House. But you have come here with placards. Even you have come to the podium. Is it correct? Please go back to your seat. I am giving you a last warning,” he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said all MPs, at the time of the inauguration of the new Parliament building, had resolved not to come to the Well. He demanded action against the MPs carrying the Prime Minister’s morphed picture.

“Both the buildings are under the Speaker’s purview. We are following the Speaker’s order. A high-level enquiry is going on. Saying that we will not allow the House to function … they (opposition) should behave responsibly,” he said.