Puja to continue inside Gyanvapi: Allahabad HC
An Allahabad High Court decision on Monday saw the dismissal of an appeal by the Gyanvapi Mosque committee, contesting the Varanasi District Court’s ruling allowing prayers in a cellar within the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of the Allahabad HC delivered the verdict.
Following a report by the Archaeological Survey of India indicating the presence of a Hindu temple before the mosque’s construction, the Varanasi District Court on January 31 permitted a priest to conduct puja in the southern cellar.
Puja ceremonies commenced that night and continued intermittently on Thursday (February 1).
The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, managing the mosque, urgently appealed to the Supreme Court against the district court’s decision but was instructed to first seek relief from the Allahabad High Court.
The mosque committee asserts that no idols were present in the cellar and prayers were never conducted there.
Of note is the fact that the mosque’s basement contains four cellars, with one still under the possession of the Vyas family. However, according to the mosque committee, the ‘Vyas Tehkhana’ is part of the mosque premises, and neither the Vyas family nor anyone else has the right to worship there.
In contrast, the Hindu side contends that the Vyas family conducted religious ceremonies in the basement until 1993 but ceased following a directive from the Uttar Pradesh government.
