Supreme Court Upholds Hindu Prayers in Southern Cellar of Gyanvapi Mosque

Supreme Court Upholds Hindu Prayers in Southern Cellar of Gyanvapi Mosque: In Varanasi, the Supreme Court refused to stop Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque. However, the top court ordered status quo on Hindu religious practices inside the mosque.

“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 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.

In July, the Supreme Court will decide whether to approve Hindu puja in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque.

Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, challenged the HC's February 26 decision before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Gyanvapi mosque committee's plea challenging the Varanasi district court's order allowing Hindus to offer prayers in the cellar was rejected by the Allahabad High Court.

In dismissing the mosque committee's appeal on February 26, the high court wrote that the Uttar Pradesh government's 1993 decision to stop worship rituals in the "Vyas Tehkhana" -- located in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi -- was "illegal."

Two appeals by the mosque management committee challenging the Varanasi district judge's January 17 order appointing the district magistrate as receiver of the "Vyas Tehkhana" and the January 31 order permitting 'puja' to be performed there were rejected by the court claiming that the worship rituals were stopped by "illegal action of the state without any written order."

On January 31, the district court ruled that a Hindu priest could pray before the idols in the mosque's southern cellar.

Shailendra Kumar Pathak, a petitioner who claims that his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas, also a priest, offered prayers in the cellar until December 1993, is now leading the prayers.

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