Todays ruling by the Allahabad High Court permits Hindus to offer prayers in the Gyanvapi Cellar

The Varanasi district court's decision to permit Hindu prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque's cellar was challenged in a petition that was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court today.
On January 31, the district court in Varanasi made a ruling allowing a priest to lead prayers in the Gyanvapi mosque's southern cellar.
Shailendra Kumar Pathak petitioned for the order to be granted, claiming that his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas had offered prayers up until December 1993.

Since he was a hereditary pujari, Mr. Pathak had asked to be permitted to return to the tahkhana and continue performing pooja.

Within the mosque's basement are four 'tehkhanas' (cellars), one of which is still owned by the Vyas family.Following the release of an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the mosque complex, the Varanasi district court issued an order.

According to the ASI survey, which the same court ordered in relation to a related case, the mosque was built over the ruins of a Hindu temple during Aurangzeb's reign.
The petitioner's account was disputed by the mosque committee. The committee stated that since there were no idols in the cellar, prayers could not be said there until 1993.Within hours of the Supreme Court declining to hear the committee's appeal against the Varanasi district court order and requesting that it go to the high court, the committee went to the high court on February