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A Varanasi district court on Wednesday allowed the Hindu side to offer prayers in southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque.
The court directed the receiver to make arrangements for pooja to be performed by the Hindu side and a poojari nominated by Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust.
“Puja will start within seven days. Everyone will have the right to perform Puja,” Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing the Hindu side, said.
Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s counsel Akhlaque Ahmad said that he would challenge the order in the higher court. The court has fixed February 8 as date of hearing on an application by the mosque committee saying that the plea should be dismissed.
The district court’s order comes a day after four Hindu women moved the Supreme Court seeking excavation and scientific survey of a sealed section of the mosque, this after an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report concluded that a large Hindu temple existed before the construction of the mosque.
“It is submitted that for a proper and effective investigation, it is necessary that the ASI may be directed to undertake necessary excavation and use other scientific methods around the Shivlingam (being claimed by Muslims as a fountain) for determining the nature of Shivlingam and associated features without causing any damage to the object after removing artificial/modern walls/floors surrounding the Shivlingam,” the petition had stated.
The area in question holds a disputed structure that the Hindus say is a Shivaling, a claim rejecred by the Muslim side that said it is part of a ritual ablution tank.
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