A Varanasi court on Wednesday allowed Hindu petitioners in the Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath Temple dispute to offer prayers at ‘Vyas Ka Tehkhana’, a sealed basement area inside the existing Gyanvapi mosque complex. Speaking to the media, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain who represents the Hindu petitioners said that the court has also asked the district administration to make arrangements for Hindu prayers in the area within seven days.
The development comes a week after the Varanasi district administration on January 24 took possession of the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The administration’s action came on a January 17 order of the Varanasi district court appointing the Varanasi District Magistrate as the receiver of the southern cellar of the mosque.
The court’s directions came in a case filed by the head priest of Acharya Ved Vyas Peeth temple Shailendra Kumar Pathak. A plea of advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi to become a party of Vyas’s suit was rejected the same day by the court.
The verdict was reserved by District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha on Tuesday after the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, filed an objection to the plea seeking permission for the worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi mosque cellar.
The mosque committee contended that the plea was not maintainable as per the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act and the Waqf Act. Following the court’s verdict, the Muslim side has said that it will exercise the legal options available before it and move higher courts challenging the Varanasi court’s order.
