The verdict on the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) appeal, challenging the Varanasi District Judge's order permitting Hindu devotees to pray within the 'Vyas Ka Tehkhana' area at the Gyanvapi mosque complex, will be announced by Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court on Monday.
Earlier, the court had reserved the decision after a long debate between both the parties. The decision will be pronounced at 10 am on February 26. The mosque has four 'tahkhanas' (cellars) in the basement, of which one is still in the possession of the Vyas family, who used to live there.
After the Varanasi district court issued an order on January 31 permitting priests to conduct prayers in front of the idols located in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque, religious rituals took place on the mosque premises at midnight on February 1. Subsequently, the southern cellar was opened to devotees.
Following this development, the mosque committee filed a petition in the high court on February 2, shortly after the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal against the Varanasi district court's decision and directed it to seek relief from the high court.
Earlier, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said that the judgement by the Varanasi court to allow Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas Ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex was a violation of the Places of Worship Act. The judge who gave the decision was his last day before retirement. The judge appointed the District Magistrate as receiver on January 17 and finally he has directly given the verdict. He himself said that no prayers were offered since 1993. It has been 30 years. How does he know there is idol inside? This is violation of Places of Worship Act, he said.