Allahabad High Court Upholds Varanasi Court's Decision Allowing 'Puja' in Gyanvapi Mosque's Cellar

The Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal made by the Gyanvapi Mosque committee against the Varanasi Court's January 31 ruling permitting 'Puja' in the 'Vyas Tehkhana' or the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

“After going through the entire records of the case and after considering arguments of the parties concerned, the court did not find any ground to interfere in the judgment passed by the district judge dated 17.01.2024 appointing DM, Varanasi as receiver of the property as well as the order dated 31.01.2024 by which the district court had permitted Puja in the Tehkhana,” said Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal. The bench headed by Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal had reserved the verdict after hearing both parties on February 15.

The district court on January 31, permitted to conduct prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, following a petition filed by Shailendra Kumar Pathak, head priest of Acharya Ved Vyas Peeth temple, who asserted a familial connection, stating that his grandfather, Somnath Vyas, had performed prayers in the complex until December 1993. After the district court pronounced its verdict, the southern cellar was unlocked, and a priest conducted prayers.

The Anjuman Intezamia Mosque Committee, responsible for managing the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, filed an appeal before the High Court on February 1, after the Supreme Court refused to expedite hearing the Mosque Committee's plea against the order permitting prayers in Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana. The Committee maintained that the Tehkhana was part of the Mosque premises under their possession, asserting that neither the Vyas family nor anyone else had the right to worship there.

The feud over the worshiping inside the cellar of the Gyan Vyapi mosque stemmed out of an Archeological Survey of India report that confirmed the presence of a Hindu temple before the construction of the existing structure.​​