The Supreme Court declined on Monday to halt Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque, requesting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple trustees to respond to the mosque management committee's plea.
The court also mandated the preservation of the current state regarding the offering of namaz by Muslims within the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi.
The decision came during the court's consideration of a fresh appeal from the Gyanvapi mosque management committee contesting an Allahabad High Court ruling that upheld a lower court's authorization for Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, alongside Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, additionally summoned priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas to respond by April 30 to the mosque committee's plea.
The mosque committee oversees the operations of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. The High Court had previously, on February 26, dismissed the committee's appeal, in which it challenged a district court's January 31 decision permitting Hindus to offer prayers in the cellar.
In its dismissal of the mosque committee's appeal, the High Court remarked that the Uttar Pradesh government's 1993 ruling to cease worship rituals inside the "Vyas Tehkhana" located at the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi was deemed "illegal."
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