Allahabad High Court Upholds Decision to Allow Hindu Prayers in Gyanvapi Mosque Cellar

In a significant ruling today, the Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition by the Gyanvapi mosque committee, challenging the Varanasi district court’s decision that allowed Hindu prayers in a cellar of the mosque, known as the “Vyas Tehkhana”. The Varanasi district court had last month accepted the plea of Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who argued that his maternal grandfather, Somnath Vyas, was a hereditary priest who conducted prayers in the tehkhana until December 1993. The court’s decision permits the resumption of Hindu rituals in the southern cellar of the mosque.

The mosque committee had contested the district court’s ruling, arguing that there were no idols within the cellar, and thus, no Hindu prayers had been conducted there till 1993. This challenge was swiftly taken to the Allahabad High Court following the Supreme Court’s directive to address their grievances at the high court, after refusing to hear their plea against the district court’s order.

The dispute centers around one of the four cellars within the Gyanvapi mosque’s basement, known for its historical significance and religious implications. An Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report, tied to a related legal matter, had previously indicated that the mosque, constructed during Aurangzeb’s reign, stands over the remnants of a Hindu temple. The Allahabad High Court’s decision to allow Hindu prayers in the Vyas Tehkhana marks a notable moment in the ongoing discourse surrounding the site’s religious and cultural heritage.

Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright