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The caretakers of the mosque have urgently moved the Allahabad high court challenging the district court order and objecting to the rushed manner of the compliance with the court's order.New Delhi: Less than a day after a court controversially allowed Hindus to conduct puja inside a basement of the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, the district administration displayed a tearing hurry as it complied with the orders and oversaw prayer rituals by a Hindu priest inside the basement of the mosque in the early hours of February 1.
The caretakers of the mosque, meanwhile, have urgently moved the Allahabad high court challenging the district court order and objecting to the rushed manner of the compliance of the court’s order.Vishnu Shankar Jain, one of the lawyers for the Hindu plaintiffs in the Gyanvapi Masjid-Kashi Vishwanath Temple matter, said that the orders of the Varanasi district court had been complied with. A pujari of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Trust, which manages the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, conducted the “shayan arti” after “putting up idols” in the basement of the mosque, said Jain. Another lawyer for the Hindu plaintiffs, Saurabh Tiwari, too confirmed the same.
“An Akhand Jyoti started in front of them. Daily Arti of all above deities – Morning Mangla Arti, Bhog Arti, evening arti, late sunset evening arti, Shayan arti,” Jain said. Jain said so far two aartis had been conducted at the basement of the mosque, claimed by the Hindu side to be the “Vyas cellar”. There would be five aarti sessions daily, added Jain: the first one at 3:30 am, followed by 12 pm (bhog), 4 pm, 7 pm and 10:30 pm.
Jain also shared photos of the puja inside the basement of the Mughal-era mosque.Hours after district judge Ajaya Krishna Vishesha on January 31 – his last working day before retirement – allowed Hindus to worship inside a sealed basement of the Mughal-era Gyanvapi Masjid, the district administration and police stepped in to secure the area late at night and removed the barricading on the southern end of the mosque. The mosque had been barricaded for the last three decades on the directions of the Supreme Court.
The administration and police have refused to divulge details and responded through cryptic statements on the compliance of the court’s orders.
Speaking to reporters in the intervening hours of January 31 and February 1, Varanasi district magistrate S. Rajalingam said that “the compliance of the order of the court had been done”.
The DM, however, did not provide details or answer queries on the breaking of the barricades. What transpired inside the cellar with the entry of the administration following the court order is not yet known.Director General of Police Uttar Pradesh Prashant Kumar said in Lucknow, “The court’s order has been followed,” adding that there was sufficient police security at the site. The atmosphere is not tense, he said.District judge Vishesha on January 31 directed the district administration to make arrangements for puja and other Hindu activities inside the southern tehkhana (cellar) of the mosque within seven days. Judge Vishvesha directed the administration to conduct the puja and “rag-bhog” of the “idols” inside the tehkhana through a pujari appointed by the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust.
The Varanasi court order came days after the Archaeological Survey of India in its survey report of the Gyanvapi Masjid claimed that a “large Hindu temple” existed there prior to the construction of the existing structure (the mosque) and that parts of the temple were modified and used in the construction of the Islamic place of worship.
The Hindu plaintiffs who are seeking religious rights within the mosque as well as its ultimate possession from Muslims, dubbed the court’s order as a victory and equated it to the controversial unlocking of the Babri Masjid in 1986. The Babri Masjid was eventually demolished by a mob of Hindu activists assembled at the call of members of the Sangh parivar on December 6, 1992.
The caretakers of the Gyanvapi Masjid said the district court passed the order based on the claims made by the Hindu side without seeking any evidence.
The court passed the order on an application filed by a local priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak of the Acharya Ved Vyas Peeth temple, who had sought rights to worship the Maa Shringar Gauri and other alleged visible and invisible deities he claimed were in the cellar of the mosque.
The caretakers of the mosque rejected all claims made by Pathak that there were idols kept inside the previously-sealed cellar and that his ancestors used to carry out puja inside the cellar.