Hindu petitioners had during a court-mandated videography survey of the mosque premises claimed that a 'Shivling' was found close to the 'wazookhana', a small reservoir used by Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering the namaaz.
According to the complainant Mohammed Shafiuddin, who is a mosque committee member, the incident took place when a procession to immerse a 'Durga' idol was passing near the place in the early hours of Thursday.
District Judge AK Vishvesha turned down the Hindu petitioners' plea seeking scientific investigation and carbon dating of the 'shivling', citing Supreme Court directives for its safe keeping so that no tampering can be done.
Madan Mohan Yadav, an advocate of the Hindu side, claimed the survey team found a Shivling in the complex near 'wazookhana'
The 10-day-long annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival began on a low-key note on Friday with several state governments prohibiting public celebrations due to the Covid pandemic and devotees taking the virtual route to pay obeisance and join the festivities.
Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra visits the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which is fast being turned into another mandir-masjid dispute.
Work on building a pilgrimage facilitation centre and other utilities in Ayodhya's Ram temple complex has started, with 'darshan' of Ram Lalla expected to open in December 2023, according to a senior official of the construction committee.
About 124 pilgrims on a two day visit arrived at the sacred Katas Raj temples in Chakwal district near capital Islamabad on Friday and were overwhelmed by the official reception.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders condoled the death of the seer.
Amid the continuous rise in Covid-19 cases, the Haridwar administration has banned devotees from taking a holy dip in the Ganga on Makar Sankranti, January 14.
'Political narrative in our country today is tilted towards Hindutva orientation and so Kejriwal becomes very dangerous to the BJP.' 'For them, he is a leader to watch.'
All the issues around which the grand old party wanted to fight the May 10 assembly elections have been put on the backburner as party state president DK Shivakumar in damage control mode took up a temple run.
For the second straight year, the popular festival will be celebrated under the long shadow of the pandemic.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday performed a 'Shila Pujan' of the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple and said the temple will be a "symbol of people's belief".
The national award-winning actor had organised a mass Vishu kaineettam campaign earlier this week in Thrissur, where he unsuccessfully contested in the last assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Action was being taken to remove encroachments from about 10,000 square feet of land around the temple premises.
Singh said the court also gave a week's time to both Hindu and Muslim sides to file objections to the report of a court-mandated videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises.
Judge Ravi Kumar Diakar, who had ordered the video survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, informed the Uttar Pradesh authorities on Tuesday that he had received a hand-written threat letter.
The police in Mathura have arrested a man for allegedly threatening a Muslim dosa seller and vandalising his cart apparently because his business was named after a Hindu deity, officials said.
The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday recommended the Centre that the cow be made the national animal, further adding that the punishment for cow slaughter should be escalated to life imprisonment.
The Ganesha temple in Flushing, New York has been drawing a large number of devotees.
Speaking to reporters, VHP national general secretary Milind Parande also said the construction of the temple will take a little time but the 'garbhagriha' (sanctum sanctorum) will be in place by December 2023 with starting of puja ritual and darshan for devotees.
'Many cheques might have bounced due to spelling mistakes or signature mismatch or any other technical reasons. Cheques which bounced due to petty technical reasons would be presented again with the bank'
A group of 52 Pakistani Hindu pilgrims on Monday thronged the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday unfurl a traditional flag on the famous Mahakali temple in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, after a dargah which stood atop the temple was shifted with the consent of its caretakers.
People in different parts of the country have already started celebrating the festival of colours.
Hindu women devotees are not relieved but distressed by this judgment. If so, who exactly did the Supreme Court provide relief to? Who is celebrating this judgment, asks Sankrant Sanu.
The cleric announced that he would gift his house to anyone who brings Sharma's head to him.
Following the Chola era tradition, the pontiff of the Thiruvaduthurai Aadeenam presented the sengol to the first Prime Minister of India Nehru signifying the transfer of power from the British to Indian hands.
Mumbai has never seen a Ganesh immersion like this!
About 17.9 million people's life is at risk.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at the centuries-old Jeshoreshwari Kali temple in Ishwaripur village in southwestern Bangladesh and announced that India will build a multipurpose community hall for the worshippers.
Moitra on Tuesday stirred a controversy with her remarks that she has every right as "an individual to imagine Goddess Kaali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess", as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in his or her own way.
'The appearance of idols of deities inside Babri was not a miracle. It was a planned and surreptitious attack to put them on the intervening night of December 22-23, 1949'
'With Ramaland, the tourism department is looking to attract children and adults alike. It'll be learning with entertainment.'
If we accept that there is a challenge in Punjab today, any realistic progress can only be made if the rest of the country, especially the government and the ruling party, engage with this sense of grievance, points out Shekhar Gupta
Even the saffron-clad Swami Hari Chaitanya, who was spearheading the much-hyped 'Clean Ganga' campaign, eventually gave up his boycott call.
While Governor Ravi's speeches have put the local BJP supporters on the defensive in matters of religion and social justice, his add-on 'attack on the constitutional scheme' in the 'Senthil Balaji case', has been condemned squarely by many legal experts and editorial writers across the country, thus adding weight to CM Stalin's position -- at least until the courts come up with their binding views, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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