PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said the Supreme Court was the only institution left in the country that can ensure that India is governed as per its Constitution. Her remarks came as the Supreme Court commenced hearing on the petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370 which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing media persons at the PDP office here, she said the entire world was watching the proceedings before the Supreme Court.

“Entire world is watching Supreme Court proceedings in Article 370. Jammu and Kashmir, despite being a Muslim-majority state, rejected the two-nation theory based on religion and joined hands with India. We were granted assurances under the Constitution. These guarantees were not given by China, Pakistan or any neighbouring country,” the former chief minister said. “The Supreme Court will have to see how the institutions in the country have been subverted and the apex court remains the only institution that can save the Constitution. BJP is not only playing with the Constitution based on its brute majority in Parliament but ignoring everything including the SC rulings. They brought an ordinance after SC ruling on Delhi which is unconstitutional,” she added.

Mehbooba draws parallels between Article 370 and the Emergency of 1975

Mehbooba said the Supreme Court will have to take a bold stand for upholding the majesty of the Constitution. “The Supreme Court is the only institution left that can save the Constitution and the country. The question is ‘are you ready to take risks’? Is the Supreme Court ready to take risks like the Allahabad High Court did at the time of Indira Gandhi (in 1975)?” she asked. She was referring to the June 12, 1975, verdict delivered by Justice Jagmohanlal Singh of the Allahabad High Court that had convicted the then prime minister of electoral malpractices.

On the Article 370 petitions, the PDP president said the apex court has to decide between the Constitution and BJP’s agenda. “There are only two sides — either you are with the Constitution of India and the guarantees given to people of Jammu and Kashmir or against India. I am talking about the country, not the opposition alliance. “The SC has to decide whether this country will be run as per the Constitution of India or as per the communal agenda of BJP, ” she said. “They are trying to replicate Manipur situation in the entire country,” she alleged.

The Supreme Court on Monday halted a “detailed scientific survey” of the ASI to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple till 5 pm on July 26 and asked the Allahabad High Court to hear an appeal filed by the mosque committee before the expiry of its order. A Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday to conduct the survey — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque was built at a place where a temple existed earlier.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared in the court on behalf of the mosque committee, stayed the operation of the order till Wednesday evening and asked the committee to file an appeal in the meantime. “We are of the view that some breathing time should be granted to the mosque committee,” said the bench that also comprised Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

“We permit the petitioner (mosque committee) to move the high court under Article 227 (writ jurisdiction of high courts), challenging the order of the district judge of Varanasi, having taken regard of the fact that the order was passed at 4:30 pm on July 21 and the ASI survey is being carried out today.

No excavation work being conducted inside mosque premises

“To permit them some breathing time, we direct that the district court order shall not be enforced till 5 pm on July 26. If the petitioner moves the high court, the registrar-judicial of the high court shall ensure that it is placed before a roster (a bench) so that it is heard before the status quo order ends,” the bench said in its order. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Uttar Pradesh government, took instructions and informed the bench that the ASI is conducting photography and radar-imaging at the site and presently, no invasive or excavation work is underway.

Earlier, the bench said it will hear the plea during the day. The mosque’s “wazookhana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex. District Judge A K Vishvesh has directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with video clips and photographs of the survey proceedings. The masjid committee had also earlier stated that they were unaware of the survey being conducted on Monday as they had moved the apex court last week seeking a deferment on the survey for 2-3 days.

On Monday morning, a team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) started a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. People with knowledge of the situation claimed on Sunday that the survey is taking place despite the mosque management committee’s petition to the Supreme Court against the district court’s order permitting the inspection.

The ASI crew arrived in Varanasi on Sunday with all the necessary tools. A UP Police squad can be seen entering the Gyanvapi mosque compound as the ASI assessment started in a video that news agency ANI released. There are about 40 people involved, including representatives from ASI, the management committee at the Gyanvapi mosque, four plaintiffs who identify as Hindu women, and their solicitors.

#WATCH | Varanasi, UP: ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) to conduct survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex today

Visuals from outside the Gyanvapi premises pic.twitter.com/VrvywzKp99

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) July 24, 2023

Besides the ASI team, which entered the complex around 7 am, the lawyers of all the Hindu petitioners to the legal dispute are also present at the spot, Madan Mohan Yadav, one of the counsel, said.

Survey necessary for ‘true facts’ to be revealed

Late on Sunday evening, District Magistrate (DM) S Rajalingam had said the ASI team had reached Varanasi and the survey proceedings inside the Gyanvapi mosque campus would begin from 7 am on Monday. Varanasi Police Commissioner Ashok Mutha Jain and the DM held a meeting with both the Hindu and Muslim sides to the dispute on Sunday night to share information about the survey with them.

The Varanasi district court ordered the ASI to conduct a thorough assessment of the Gyanvapi masjid on Friday in order to determine whether the mosque was constructed atop an earlier Hindu temple. The court reasoned that this scientific inquiry is “necessary” in order for the “true facts” to be revealed. However, the court ruled that the disputed part of the complex be excluded because it has been sealed since the Supreme Court’s judgement in May 2022. Muslims contend that the area under the seal is actually a portion of a fountain, whereas Hindus assert that a Shivling has been discovered there.

The alleged “shivling,” which was discovered when another court requested a video survey of the facility, had already been ordered by the Supreme Court to be protected. The mosque’s “wazookhana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier SC order protecting that spot in the complex.

The judge has directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with video clips and photographs of the survey proceedings.