In a major development for the Gyanvapi’s Vyas Tehkhana case, the Allahabad High Court will deliver its verdict on a plea filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) challenging the order of the Varanasi District Court that allowed Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the ‘Vyas Ka Tehkhana’ area. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of Allahabad High Court will deliver the judgement around 10 am. 

Earlier, the court had reserved the decision after a long debate between both parties. Senior advocates, SFA Naqvi and Puneet Gupta, representing Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee had argued that “giving final relief through an interim order without determining the rights in the civil suit filed demanding the right to worship is a violation of the legal procedure.”

The basement of the mosque contains four cellars known as ‘tahkhanas,’ one of which is currently owned by the Vyas family, former residents of the area. On January 31, the Varanasi district court allowed the Hindu side to offer prayers in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque. Recently, Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), expressed concern over the Varanasi court’s decision allowing Hindu devotees to pray in the ‘Vyas Ka Tekhana’ section within the Gyanvapi mosque complex. He argued that it violated the Places of Worship Act.

“The judge who gave the decision was his last day before retirement. The judge appointed the District Magistrate as receiver on January 17 and finally he has directly given the verdict. He himself said that no prayers were offered since 1993. It has been 30 years. How does he know there is idol inside? This is violation of Places of Worship Act,” said Owaisi.

Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Assembly earlier this month, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that in Mahabharata, Krishna asked for five villages, but today the Hindu society is only asking for the three centres of their faith ‘Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura.’