Prayers in Gyanvapi comples which were last offered in December 1993 will now have to resume within the next seven days, said the judge, whose last working day was Wednesday, Jan 31.
“District Magistrate, Varanasi/Receiver is directed to get pooja, Raag-bhog of the idols in the cellar, the property in question, on the south side of the building situated at Settlement Plot No. 9130, Thana Chowk, District Varanasi, done from the plaintiff and the priest named by the Kashi Vishwanath Trust Board,” the court said in its order.
In most significant development related to the high-profile case vis-a-vis a Masjid and a temple dispute in Varanasi, incidentally Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary case, the Hindu side was allowed by the Jan 31, 2024 verdict to conduct worship at the basement cellar.
The Islamic Centre of India chairperson, Maulana Khalid Rasheed said that he was disappointed with the Varanasi court order, adding that the option to move upper court in the matter is open.
Counsel for Hindus, Vishnu Shankar Jain, likened the Varanasi district court's order to a 1983 verdict announced by Justice KM Mohan, who ordered the opening of locked doors of the then disputed Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid premises at Ayodhya.
"I see Varanasi court's recent order as historic as the order given by Justice Krishna Mohan Pandey in 1983, who ordered the opening of locks of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya." JM Pandey, a Gorakhpur resident, was the first judge on whose orders the lock of the Ram Mandir was opened for worship.
“The (Varanasi) court has given us 7 days. The order has come today. Further proceedings will be done once we go through it. Security will be heightened as per the situation,” says Varanasi DM, S Raj Lingam, after a district court granted the family of a priest the right to worship Hindu deities in the Gyanvapi mosque cellar earlier today.
The order passed by District Judge A K Vishvesha reads, “District Magistrate, Varanasi is directed that puja (prayers) be done by a priest — named by the Kashi Vishwanath Trust and the plaintiffs — of idols at the western cellar, which is disputed, of building situated on plot settlement number 9130, police station Chowk, District Varanasi.
For this, arrangements must be made for barricading of iron and other things within seven days.”
Documents 'as claimed by Hindu side' claim fragmented statues of Hindu deities and inscriptions in Persian suggest in crystal clear manner that the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed atop the ruins of a Hindu temple. There is a view coming up that the verdict and related developments could mar political and electoral prospects of Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party.
The row or such apprehensions relate to the the fact in 1993 the 'worship' in the cellar in the disputed structure was stopped.
Akhilesh's late father Mulayam Singh Yadav was quite active and in influential position those days. Of course UP was under President's Rule for sometime and after PR was lifted, Samajwadi stalwart Mulayam Singh Yadav became the Chief Minister. After Babri Masjid was demolished on Dec 6, 1992, the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh government was dismissed and President's Rule was imposed.
The assembly was subsequently dissolved and after a year and two days on Dec 4, 1993, Mulayam Singh came to the coveted office of chief minister. Mulayam and his party were very firm with their MY - Muslim and Yadav card politics.
"This case is very strong case (for Hindus) based on facts and merits," advocate Jain said.
The impact of the court order is that the Hindus will get their right to worship in the place after 30 years.
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| Gyanvapi |
The worship in the complex was stopped in 1993 by the Mulayam Singh government. This order was passed based the the 1991's the Place of Worship Act enacted by the Narasimha Rao government.
Advocate Jain says till fag end of 1993 in the 'tehkhana (cellar)' Bhog, Archana and worship etc used to conducted. "It is only in 1993, the state government without passing any written orders ...and I am saying this with a lot of sense of authority, without any written order stopped the worship at teh-khana,' Jain told 'India Today TV' and also "dispossessed the Vyas family" from the cellar. "In this cellar right opposite the Nandi bhagwan, there is a teh-khana of Vyas parivar. In that cellar puja was happening," he said adding, "....in violation of the Section 3 of the Places of Worship Act, in 1993, the puja of Hindu side was stopped.
The Varanasi court district gave a permit to perform puja in the basement of Gyanvapi mosque.
The area in the mosque, where it has been allowed to do puja, is known as "Vyasji Ka Tehkhana". According to the petition, the puja in "Vyasji Ka Tehkhana" was stopped in 1993. The mosque has four "tehkhanas" (cellars) in the basement, out of which one is still in possession of the Vyas family who used to live here.
The semi-demolished wall of the temple, pillars, and ruins are visible in a sketch of the mosque by James Princep. In September 1669, Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the temple; a mosque was constructed in place, probably by Aurangzeb himself, sometime soon.
Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb understood to have destroyed the old "Kashi Vishwanath Temple" and built, over its ruins and remnants walls, in 1664, the "Gyan Vapi Mosque", named after a well - "Gyan Vapi Well" (or the "Well of Knowledge", or the "Well of Wisdom").
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