Hindu side's plea to worship in Gyanvapi maintainable: HC

A plea filed by five Hindu women seeking the right to regularly worship deities in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex is maintainable, the Allahabad high court ruled on Wednesday, dismissing a petition challenging a lower court order that allowed proceedings in the case to go ahead.

- Jitendra Sarin

In September last year, the Varanasi district court ruled that the plea by the five Hindu women was not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act 1995, and the UP Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) had challenged this in the high court.

But Justice JJ Munir sided with the Hindu side's arguments, saying that the suit by the women for regular worship of Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi mosque compound was maintainable.

"It is a historic verdict. The court clearly has said that the Anjuman Intezamia Mosque Committee's petition is not maintainable and dismissed it," said Vishnu Shankar Jain, who represents the Hindu side.