Gyanvapi Mosque case: Who is AK Vishvesh, the Varanasi district judge, who ruled in favour of the Hindu side?

It’s a big win for the Hindu side! The Varanasi district court on Monday agreed to hear the petition of five Hindu women, seeking the right to worship in the Gyanvapi mosque, next to the famous Kashi Viswanath temple.

District Judge A K Vishvesh fixed 22 September as the next date of hearing in the case.

Let’s take a look at take a look at who is District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesh and his career that has spanned across 30 years.

About Ajay Krishna Vishvesh

Born in 1964 in Haridwar, Ajay Krishna Vishvesh graduated from science, before he took up studying law.

He completed his LLB in 1984, LLM in 1986 and in 1990, he started his career from Munsif Court in Kotdwar.

The 58-year-old has in the past been the district judge of Bulandshahr. Apart from this, he has also worked as a district judge in Saharanpur and Allahabad.

He was appointed as Varanasi’s district judge in August 2021 and will retire from law in January 2024.

India Today reports that Vishwesha has taken several training courses to keep himself updated and just finished a leadership course from National Judicial Academy, Bhopal in March.

A look at his profile on the Allahabad High Court website shows that he has undertaken 16 training courses, including ones on Scientific Aids to Interrogation as well as Judicial Skills for Appreciation of Evidence.

The Gyanvapi case till now

The Gyanvapi Mosque case reached the doors of Varanasi’s senior most judge on the orders of the Supreme Court in May.

Judge Vishwesh has decided that the case of women plaintiffs who sought worshipping rights at Shrinagar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi mosque compound is maintainable.

The five women in their plea sought year-long access to pray at a Hindu shrine behind the western wall of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi. Presently, devotees are allowed to worship Shringar Gauri only on the fourth day of Chaitra Navratra. The women also want permission to pray to other “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex”.

On 16 May, the lower court had directed the district administration to seal a spot in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex after counsels representing the Hindu petitioners said a Shivling was found during a court-mandated videography survey.

A mosque management committee spokesperson disputed the claim, telling a television channel that the object was part of a “fountain”.

He said lawyers representing the mosque committee were not fully heard before the sealing order was announced.

The Hindu side claimed that the Shivling was found close to the ‘ wazukhana ’ — a small ablution pond used by Muslim devotees.

With inputs from agencies

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