The Supreme Court of India has declared that the Gyanvapi Mosque will be protected.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GYANVAPI — The Gyanvapi Mosque is a historic Muslim place of worship in Uttar Pradesh, India. But there are fears the site could become a point of religious conflict due to a dispute with India’s Hindu majority in the region.

Historically, Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the ruins of Vishwanath Temple, a magnificent 16th century Hindu temple. However, the temple was partially demolished in 1669 by order of Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor.

A group of Hindu plaintiffs have petitioned a local court for access to prayer at a temple behind the mosque and other places within the compound. They then claimed that there were remains of the statue of Lord Shiva in the mosque, although the mosque denied this.

According to the report, some mosques were sealed by the court without giving mosque authorities the opportunity to file their cases. The dispute has now reached the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday said the compound would be protected and prayers would resume at the mosque.

reported from BBC News, Wednesday (18/5/2022), this conflict has raised fears of a repeat of the conflict from decades ago involving the Babri Mosque. A 16th century mosque demolished by Hindu mobs in the holy city of Ayodhya in 1992.

The mosque’s demolition was the culmination of a six-year campaign by the then-opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sparking riots that killed nearly 2,000 people. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the disputed Ayodhya site should be given to Hindus who are now building temples there. The Muslims then received another piece of land to build a mosque.

Chairman of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Asaduddin Owaisi, said Indian Muslims are not ready to lose another mosque after Babri Mosque. This statement is said because on the same day the court in Varanasi said that relics or statues of Hindu gods were found in the complex Gyanvapi Masjid Mosque during the investigation.

This was answered by Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya who wrote on social media Twitter hers. “No matter how much you hide the truth, it will come one day. Satya hi Shiv hai (the truth is Shiva),” he reportedly said. India timeTuesday (5/17/2022).