The judge likewise said plans, including evacuation of blockades, are to be finished in seven days.
Hindu solicitors can pray inside the previously sealed basement - the
'Vyas ka tekhana' area - of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, a city
court ruled Wednesday. The judge likewise said plans, including evacuation of
blockades, are to be finished in seven days. The court additionally said
prayers should be conducted by priests from the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
"Hindu side permitted to offer prayers... district administration
should make courses of action in seven days. Everybody will have the right to
pray there," Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the four Hindu ladies candidates
for this case, said.
The mosque committee is supposed to challenge this order in a higher
court.
The mosque has four 'tekhana', or basement, in the storm cellar. One
is still in the ownership of a family of priests that used to live there. The
family had contended that, as hereditary priests, they be permitted to enter
the structure and perform pujas.
As per the petition, the priest, Somnath Vyas, used to perform
prayers till 1993 when the basement was
shut.
It had before been claimed debris from sculptures of Hindu divine
beings was found during a survey of the area. It had likewise been claimed
parts of a pre-existing ruled as a temple by the ASI report - including
pillars, were utilized in building the mosque.
The present order comes a day after the four Hindu ladies moved toward
the Supreme Court asking for uncovering and scientific survey of a 'shivling'
supposedly found inside the fixed 'wazukhana' area of the mosque complex.
This area had been fixed in 2022 following a Supreme Court oreder,
however the Hindu side has now asked the court for the ASI, or Archeological
Survey of India, to do one more study of the 'wazukhana' area without hurting
the 'shivling'.