Setback for Muslims in Gyanvapi case: HC refuses to stay Varanasi court order

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Friday declined an interim stay on the Varanasi court order allowing Hindu prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque cellar, known as Vyas Tehkhana, asking the Muslim side to amend its plea.

The High Court granted time till February 6 for the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (AIMC), which challenged the district court order, of Gyanvapi mosque to amend its pleadings to include a challenge to a January 17 order consequent to which the January 31 order was passed. The matter will be heard next once this is done. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the committee, which looks after the affairs of the mosque. The panel had moved the High Court within hours of the Supreme Court refusing to hear their plea against the Varanasi district court's order and asking them to approach the High Court.

The Varanasi court had ruled on Wednesday that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

Shops and parts of Muslim-dominated areas remained closed and the police sounded an alert in the entire Varanasi district after the district court's order on Friday.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which looks after the affairs of the Gyanvapi mosque, had called for a bandh on Friday in the town.

In a letter issued by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, it appealed for the closure of the markets and asked people to offer namaz peacefully. It advised Muslim women to remain in their houses.