The Allahabad High Court on Friday declined to give any immediate relief to the Anzuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that runs the Gyanvapi mosque, which had approached the court seeking an interim stay on the puja which is being observed in the mosque’s basement on the orders of the district court.
A large police force, including the Provincial Armed Constabulary, was deployed outside Gyanvapi mosque as Friday namaz was offered with over 2,000 worshippers in attendance, amid protests from the Muslim community which shut its shops to demonstrate its unhappiness against the court order allowing Hindu worship inside the mosque.
While hearing the application filed by the mosque committee through senior advocate S.F.A. Naqvi, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal pointed out that the applicants have not challenged the January 17 order of the district court appointing the Varanasi District Magistrate (DM) as the receiver of the southern cellar of the mosque. That order came in response to a petition filed by Shailendra Pathak, the head priest of the Acharya Ved Vyas Peeth temple in Varanasi.
