By – Prakarsh Kastwar
The Supreme Court refuses to halt Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to prohibit Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque. However, the Supreme Court ordered that the religious observances of Hindus inside the mosque premises remain unchanged.
“It is appropriate to maintain status quo so as to enable both the communities to offer worships in the above terms, bearing in mind the fact that the Muslim community offers the Namaz without hindrance following the orders dated January 17 and January 31 and the offering of pooja by Hindu priest is confined to the area of tehkhana,” the bench was quoted as saying by the legal website LiveLaw.
“It is appropriate to maintain status quo so as to enable both the communities to offer worships in the above terms, bearing in mind the fact that the Muslim community offers the Namaz without hindrance following the orders dated January 17 and January 31 and the offering of pooja by Hindu priest is confined to the area of tehkhana,” the court was quoted as saying by the legal website Live Law.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a final hearing in July on the Gyanvapi mosque committee’s appeal against approval of Hindu puja in the mosque’s southern cellar.
The Gyanvapi mosque committee had contested the Varanasi district court’s January 31 ruling permitting Hindus to say prayers in the cellar, but the Allahabad high court had dismissed the committee’s appeal.
On February 26, the high court dismissed the mosque committee’s petition, stating that the Uttar Pradesh government’s 1993 decision to prohibit worship rites inside the “Vyas Tehkhana” — located in the southern crypt of the Gyanvapi — was “illegal”.
It stated that the worship rituals were halted by “illegal state action without any written order” and rejected two appeals filed by the mosque management committee challenging the Varanasi district judge’s January 17 order appointing the district magistrate as the receiver of the “Vyas Tehkhana” and the January 31 order allowing ‘puja’ to be performed there.
The “Vyas Tehkhana” of the mosque, which is next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is where worship will continue, according the high court’s judgment.
According to an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey undertaken in response to the court’s decision, the Gyanvapi mosque was built on the remains of a Hindu temple during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
According to an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey undertaken in response to the court’s decision, the Gyanvapi mosque was built on the remains of a Hindu temple during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
The prayers are presently being led by a Hindu priest appointed by the Kashi Vishwanath temple foundation and petitioner Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who claims that his maternal grandfather, Somnath Vyas, a priest, gave prayers in the dungeon until December 1993.