Gyanvapi case judge receives death threats

Varanasi, Jun 8: Ravi Kumar Diwakar, the judge who had ordered a video graphics survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, on Tuesday received a threat letter, police said.

 

 

 

The judge has received a letter by registered post, said Varanasi commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh, adding that a few papers are enclosed with it. “Deputy commissioner of police, Varuna Zone, is investigating the matter,” he said.

 

 

 

“A total of nine additional police personnel have been deployed to guard the judge’s residences in Lucknow and Varanasi,” said the commissioner. “The security is being reviewed from time to time.” According to a senior police officer civil judge (senior division), Ravi Kumar Diwakar informed the commissioner and the additional chief secretary (home) soon after receiving the letter. Diwakar had recently ordered the sealing of part of the Gyanvapi complex where Hindu groups claimed that a Shivling was found during the court-ordered survey on May 16. Around a month ago, Diwakar had expressed concern about his safety. Meanwhile, public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday, seeking the establishment of a committee headed by a retired or sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a high court to ascertain the truth regarding a structure recently found in the Gyanvapi complex. The PIL is likely to come up for hearing before a vacation bench of Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Subhash Vidyarthi on June 9. The petition was filed by seven Hindu petitioners claiming themselves to be devotees of Lord Shiva, said a lawyer familiar with the development. 

 

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According to advocate Ashok Pandey, in the PIL seven petitioners have sought a survey of the structure found in Gyanvapi by a committee headed by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court to find out whether the structure found in the mosque is a Shivlinga as claimed by Hindus or a Fountain as claimed by Muslims. The Hindu side has claimed that a Shivling was found during a videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex last month. The claim was disputed by the mosque committee members who said it was part of the water fountain mechanism in the wazookhana reservoir, used by devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering namaz.