Supreme Court refuses to stop Hindu prayers in southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stop Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. However, the top court ordered status quo on the religious observances by the Hindus inside the mosque premises.

“Bearing in mind the fact that the Namaz is offered by Muslim community unhindered after the orders dated Jan 17 and Jan 31 and the offering of pooja by Hindu priest is confined to the area of tehkhana, it is appropriate to maintain status quo so as to enable both the communities to offer worships in the above terms,” legal website LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.

“Status quo as obtained from the above terms shall not be disturbed by either of the parties without obtaining the previous sanction and leave of this Court,” the bench added.

The Supreme Court has fixed the plea of Gyanvapi mosque committee against nod for Hindu puja in southern cellar of mosque for final disposal in July.

The Allahabad high court had rejected the Gyanvapi mosque committee’s plea in which it challenged the Varanasi district court’s January 31 order allowing Hindus to offer prayers in the cellar.

Dismissing the mosque committee’s plea on February 26, the high court observed that the Uttar Pradesh government’s 1993 decision of stopping worship rituals inside the “Vyas Tehkhana” — located at the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi — was “illegal”.

It had said that the worship rituals were stopped by “illegal action of the state without there being any order in writing” and rejected two appeals filed by the mosque management committee challenging the Varanasi district judge’s January 17 order — that appointed the district magistrate as the receiver of the “Vyas Tehkhana” — and the January 31 order by which the judge allowed ‘puja’ to be performed there.

The high court ordered that worship will continue in the “Vyas Tehkhana” of the mosque, which stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

A survey conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on the court’s order had suggested that the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed during Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s rule over the remains of a Hindu temple.

The district court had ruled on January 31 that a Hindu priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the mosque.

The prayers are now being conducted by a Hindu priest nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust and petitioner Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who claimed that his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas, also a priest, offered prayers in the cellar till December 1993.