Prayers To Continue At Vyas Tehkhana In Gyanvapi, Allahabad HC Dismissed Muslim Plea

Prayagraj, February 26 (TNA) The Allahabad High Court (HC) on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the Varanasi district court's decision to allow Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque. "Hindu Prayers in the 'Vyas Tehkhana' will continue," Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said as he dismissed the mosque committee's petition.

The Varanasi district court had last month ruled that a priest can offer prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque called "Vyas Tehkhana".

The district court order was delivered on the petition of Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who said his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas offered prayers till December 1993. He had further requested that, as a hereditary pujari, he be allowed to enter the tehkhana and resume puja.

The mosque has four 'tehkhanas' (cellars) in the basement, and one of them is still with the Vyas family. Soon after the Varanasi court allowed Puja and appointed the Varanasi DM as the custodian, the same very night he allowed prayers to begin.