Hindu devotees have started praying at a cellar in the basement of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque after a district court yesterday ordered the administration to unseal the premises, 30 years after it was sealed on the orders of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
It was closed for Hindus shortly after the Babri Masjid demolition.
The activity has started since last night and the Hindus are busy in one of the cellaras with the prayers.
The mosque has four cellars in its basement. One of them was in the possession of a family of priests that used to live there.
Somnath Vyas, a member of Vyas family, offered prayers in the cellar before it was sealed in 1993, according to the petition by Shailendra Pathak, the petitioner and a member of the family.
He had argued in court that as hereditary priests, they should be allowed to enter the structure and worship there. The court yesterday asked the district administration to ensure that prayers can be held inside the cellar within a week.
The mosque committee has said they would be challenging the court’s order in Allahabad High Court. “This is happening to get political advantage.
The same approach is being adopted, which was done in the Babri Masjid case,” their counsel Merajuddin Siddiqui said.
