Hindu prayers will continue in Gyanvapi basement, High Court rejects the petition

Gyanvapi case: The petitioner had requested that he be allowed to enter the crypt and resume worship

New Delhi:

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a plea challenging the Varanasi District Court’s decision to allow Hindu prayers in a basement of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

Justice Rohit Ranjan Aggarwal, while dismissing the mosque committee’s plea, said, “Hindu prayers will continue in the Vyas tehkhana.”

The Varanasi district court had last month ruled that a priest can offer prayers in the southern basement of the Gyanvapi Mosque, called the “Vyas Tahkhana”.

The district court’s order was given on the petition of Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who said that his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas had performed puja till December 1993. Shri Pathak had requested that, as a hereditary priest, he be allowed to enter the crypt and resume worship.

There are four ‘tahkhanas’ (cellars) in the basement of the mosque, and one of them is still owned by the Vyas family.

The mosque committee had refuted the petitioner’s version. The committee said that no idol was present in the basement, so there was no question of praying there till 1993.

The committee moved the high court on February 2, within hours of the Supreme Court refusing to hear its plea against the Varanasi district court order and asking it to approach the high court.

After hearing both the sides on 15 February, Allahabad High Court had reserved its decision.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report, ordered by the district court in connection with a related case, had earlier suggested that the mosque was built on the remains of a Hindu temple during the rule of Aurangzeb.