Varanasi court to hear plea against worship in Gyanvapi mosque cellar on Feb 15
The Hindu side counsel stated that a Varanasi court on Thursday set February 15 as the date for hearing the Gyanvapi Masjid committee’s appeal against the recently permitted “puja” in the mosque’s cellar. According to Advocate MM Yadav, he informed District Judge Anil Kumar that the district court had no purpose in hearing the case at this time because the Allahabad High Court was set to hear it on February 12. The matter was then scheduled for February 15 by the court.
Application filed in Allahabad HC against Varanasi court ruling
In addition to appealing the Varanasi district court’s decision to permit Hindu prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque’s southern cellar on Friday, the Anjuman Intezamia also filed a suit in the Allahabad High Court against the decision.
The hearing on the plea challenging the Varanasi district court order that permitted Hindu prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque’s cellar was postponed by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday until February 12. The Gyanvapi mosque committee appeal was heard by Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, who scheduled a hearing for February 12 after hearing arguments from both the Muslim and Hindu sides. After the Supreme Court declined to hear the mosque committee’s appeal against the Varanasi district court order and asked it to go to the high court, the committee moved the high court on February 2.
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Puja going on in mosque
On January 31, the district court in Varanasi made a ruling allowing a priest to offer prayers in front of the idols located in the Gyanvapi mosque’s southern cellar. Priest Somnath Vyas reportedly offered prayers there until the authorities closed the cellar in 1993, according to the petition. The maternal grandson of Somnath Vyas, Shailendra Kumar Pathak, had requested permission to worship the gods there.
