Gyanvapi: Varanasi Court to Hear Plea against Worship in Cellar on Feb 15

A Varanasi court on Thursday scheduled February 15 for hearing the Gyanvapi Masjid committee’s plea against the recently permitted ‘puja’ in a cellar of the mosque, as stated by the Hindu side counsel, Madan Mohan Yadav.
District Judge Anil Kumar said that since the Allahabad High Court is set to hear the matter on February 12, it would be redundant for the district court to proceed with the hearing at present.

Consequently, the court adjourned the matter until February 15, 2024.
In addition to filing an appeal last Friday against the Varanasi district court’s authorization of Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque, the Anjuman Intezamia had also submitted an application against it in the Allahabad High Court.

The High Court, on Wednesday, rescheduled the hearing on the plea to February 12, challenging the Varanasi district court’s order permitting Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque. A single bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal heard arguments from both Hindu and Muslim sides on the Gyanvapi mosque committee’s appeal and scheduled the matter for February 12. The mosque committee approached the high court on February 2, shortly after the Supreme Court declined to hear its plea against the Varanasi district court order, directing it to approach the high court instead. The Varanasi district court, on January 31, ruled that a priest could conduct prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

As per the petition, priest Somnath Vyas used to perform prayers there until 1993 when the cellar was sealed by the authorities. Shailendra Kumar Pathak, maternal grandson of Somnath Vyas, sought the right to worship the deities there.