Gyanvapi masjid committee moves Allahabad HC against order allowing Hindus to perform puja

THE Gyanvapi masjid committee has moved the Allahabad High Court challenging the Varanasi district court's order allowing the Hindus to perform puja in 'Vyas Tehkana' or the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi structure, Livelaw reported. Within hours of the order, prayers were performed for the first time in 31 years in the southern cellar of the masjid.

The Muslim side on Wednesday said they would approach the Allahabad High Court as the Varanasi district court's order overlooked certain things. The Advocate Commissioner report of 2022, ASI's report, the decision of 1937 was in favour of the Muslim side, while the Hindu side did not place any evidence that prayers were held before 1993, the Muslim side said.

Puja begins at Vyas Tahkhana of Gyanvapi mosque: Here are top 10 updates

1. Lawyers representing the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking an urgent hearing, The Supreme Court registrar conveyed to them that the CJI asked them to approach the high court.

2. "There is no reason for the administration to undertake this task in hot haste in the dead of the night as the order passed by the Trial Court had already given them one week to make the necessary arrangements. The obvious reason for such unseemly haste is that the administration in collusion with the plaintiffs is trying to foreclose any attempt by the Mosque Managing Committee to avail of their remedies against the said order by presenting them with a fait accompli," the Muslim side said.

3. The Varanasi court on Wednesday allowed Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas Ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex -- in a historical judgment.

4. The court has asked the district administration to make the necessary arrangements in the next seven days.

5. Hours after at night the tahkhana was opened after 31 years and prayers were performed.

The mosque has four 'tahkhanas' (cellars) in the basement. Vyas Tahkhana is the one that belonged to the Vyas family

6. After cleaning the cellar, an 'aarti' of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh was performed, locals said.

7. Around 9.30 pm on Wednesday, the members of the Kashi-Vishwanath temple trust were called and the barricades before the Nandi statue facing the mosque's 'wazukhana' were removed.

8. The ASI survey suggested that the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed during Aurangzeb's rule over the remains of a Hindu temple.

9. Hindu side lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain posted the timings of daily aarti at the tahkhana. Prayers will be offered five times, he said. The timings are 3.30 am, 12 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm and 10.30 pm.

10. Videos of the Hindu side pasting mandir stickers on a signboard of Gyanvapi mosque appeared on social media.