Lucknow: A Varanasi district court on January 31 allowed the Hindu side to offer prayers in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque. The court directed the Varanasi district magistrate to make arrangements for pooja to be performed by the Hindu side and a priest nominated by Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust.
On January 17, the Varanasi district court appointed the district magistrate as the receiver, directing him to keep the cellar safe and not allow any change in it. On January 24, a district administration team led by additional district magistrate Prakash Chandra completed the proceedings in connection with the DM becoming the receiver of the cellar and taking it into his custody.
“Puja will start within seven days. Everyone will have the right to perform Puja,” Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing the Hindu side, said. Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s counsel Akhlaque Ahmad said that he would challenge the order in the higher court. The court has fixed February 8 as the date of hearing on an application by the mosque committee saying that the plea should be dismissed.
“The cellar is a part of the Gyanvapi mosque. So worship could not be performed. Therefore, pooja should not be allowed,” Ahmad said. The district court’s order comes a day after four Hindu women moved the Supreme Court seeking excavation and scientific survey of a sealed section of the mosque, this after an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report concluded that a large Hindu temple existed before the construction of the mosque.
“It is submitted that for a proper and effective investigation, it is necessary that the ASI may be directed to undertake necessary excavation and use other scientific methods around the Shivlingam (being claimed by Muslims as a fountain) for determining the nature of Shivlingam and associated features without causing any damage to the object after removing artificial/modern walls/floors surrounding the Shivlingam,” the petition had stated.
The area in question holds a disputed structure that the Hindus say is a Shivlingam, a claim rejected by the Muslim side that said it is part of a ritual ablution tank.
