No immediate relief for Gyanvapi mosque committee, bandh in Muslim-dominated parts of Varanasi

Prayagraj/Varanasi: The Gyanvapi Masjid committee on Friday failed to get any immediate relief from the Allahabad High Court on its petition challenging a district court order that has allowed Hindu prayers in a cellar of the mosque in Varanasi.

A large number of people offered Friday prayers at the mosque while a bandh was observed in Varanasi's Muslim-dominated areas against the January 31 district court order.

Hindu devotees exiting the adjacent Kashi Vishwanath temple were also filing past an opening through which they could catch a glimpse of the cellar. The area was earlier covered with tin sheets which were removed on Wednesday night by the district administration.

The Varanasi district court on Wednesday ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in the cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid, a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque.

The court allowed regular worship to be conducted by a 'pujari' nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust and the petitioner who claimed his grandfather offered puja before the idols in the cellar up to December 1993.

The Allahabad High Court on Friday refused to offer any immediate relief to the Gyanvapi Masjid committee.

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the committee which looks after the affairs of the mosque. The court will now hear the matter on February 6.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee had moved the high court within hours of the Supreme Court refusing to hear its plea against the Varanasi district court order and asking it to approach the high court.

Appearing on behalf of the committee, advocate S F A Naqvi submitted before the high court that the order was passed in a "very hurried manner" and on the day of retirement of the judge concerned.

Varanasi district judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha retired from service on January 31.

Naqvi further submitted that while passing the impugned order, district judges had not considered their documents.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side, pointed out that the district court, by the means of an order dated January 17, had appointed the Varanasi district magistrate receiver of the property in pursuance of which he took possession of the same on January 24.

The order passed on January 31 is only a consequential order. The order dated January 17 has not been challenged and thus the appeal is not maintainable, he argued.

On this, Naqvi said he has to move an amendment application challenging the January 17 order also.

Jain also submitted that by permitting puja, no harm has been caused to the other side because puja was going on in the past and was stopped in December 1993.

A puja was held in the mosque's southern cellar on Wednesday night, about eight hours after the Varanasi district court order.

A large number of people gathered outside the Gyanvapi mosque to offer Friday prayers, forcing police to turn back some of them. Some were sent to other mosques.

Eyewitnesses said a crowd double the size of the usual gathering for the Friday namaz was seen outside the mosque.

Shops in Varanasi's Muslim-dominated areas remained closed for the day in response to a bandh call given by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee against the district court order. A letter issued by the committee had appealed for closure of markets and advised Muslim women to remain indoors.

The effect of the bandh was visible in market areas in Dalmandi, Nai Sadak, Nadesar and Ardal Bazar.

Tight security arrangements were in place around the mosque complex.

Divisional Commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, District Magistrate S Rajlingam and Police Commissioner Mutha Ashok Jain stood outside the mosque area to keep a watch on the situation.

Jain said the situation in the entire town was being monitored. Police are conducting patrolling in sensitive areas and a close watch is being kept on social media platforms, he said.

Drones are also being used for surveillance in areas around the Gyanvapi mosque, he added.

Devotees visiting the Kashi Vishwanath temple were passing through a narrow lane between the boundaries of the mosque and the temple, and trying to catch a glimpse of the cellar.

They were apparently able to see only parts of the cellar and paid obeisance from afar.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple's Public Relation Officer (PRO) Piyush Tiwari said, "Devotees are excited to offer prayers at the cellar. As of now, on the direction of the district administration, we have made arrangements that they can have a 'jhanki' (peek)." A group of police personnel standing near the barricading were seen managing the queue of devotees eager to have 'darshan' of the cellar.