The ongoing Gyanvapi Mosque complex dispute in Varanasi takes a new turn as legal proceedings intensify. The Varanasi district court is scheduled to address the Hindu side's plea today, demanding an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey for the closed cellars, specifically the tehkhana (basement) within the disputed complex.
Simultaneously, the Allahabad High Court is set to hear the Muslim side's opposition to the recent puja conducted in the southern cellar. Last Friday, the Allahabad High Court declined an interim stay on the Varanasi court's order permitting Hindu prayers before idols in 'Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana,' a cellar in the Gyanvapi mosque's basement. The court emphasized that without a challenge to the January 17 order, no immediate action could be taken. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal delivered this decision during an appeal hearing filed by the committee.
Following Hindu prayers being conducted in the southern cellar, a location not accessed for three decades, the Hindu side submitted a fresh plea on Monday. This new plea urges the court to initiate an ASI survey for the remaining basements within the Gyanvapi Mosque premises.
