India court to weigh future of mosque in Hindu holy city

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA)- An Indian court has weighed into one of the country’s most bitter religious disagreements by greenlighting cases on whether a mosque in the holy city of Varanasi should be opened to Hindu worshippers.

The Gyanvapi mosque was built in the 17th century by the Muslim Mughal empire then ruling over much of India in a city where Hindu faithful from across the country cremate their loved ones by the Ganges river.

It is among several Islamic places of worship that Hindu activists, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, have sought for decades to reclaim for their faith in disputes that have previously sparked deadly religious riots.

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed a lower bench to evaluate petitions on the future of the mosque, which historians say was built over the demolished ruins of a temple to the Hindu deity Shiva.