Varanasi court to hear plea against Hindu prayers in Gyanvapi on Feb 28

VARANASI: A Varanasi court on Thursday fixed February 28 as the date for hearing the Gyanvapi Masjid committee’s plea against the recently allowed puja in a cellar of the mosque, the Hindu side counsel said.

The Varanasi district court had on January 31 ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

The mosque committee moved the court challenging the verdict. The mosque committee has also moved a petition in the Allahabad High Court against the district court verdict.

Earlier in the day in the Allahabad High Court, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal heard the appeal filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee, which looks after the affairs of the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, and reserved its order, the committee’s lawyer S F A Naqvi said.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee moved the high court on February 2 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.

The Varanasi court had ruled on January 31 that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.