An Indian court ruled Hindus can worship inside Gyanvapi mosque

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – An Indian court has ruled that Hindus can worship inside a contested mosque, a verdict that it is feared will increase religious tensions and galvanise further claims against other Muslim places of worship.

Guardian reported Gyanvapi mosque, in the holy city of Varanasi, was built in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and has been in use by Muslims for prayer ever since.

Since 2021 the mosque has been subjected to dozens of legal petitions by Hindus who are fighting for the right to pray there, claiming it is the site of an ancient Hindu temple and Hindu deities were present there. They also claimed Hindu priests had worshipped in the mosque cellar until 1993.

The mosque committee has been fighting the case, arguing that it has been used solely by Muslims for hundreds of years and is protected by the Places of Worship Act. The law, enacted shortly after India’s independence, froze the status of all religious places of worship as they existed on 15 August 1947 and prohibits their conversion to any other faith.

As the legal disputes against the mosque reached 24 petitions, a judge ordered the site to be surveyed, during which it was claimed a religious icon of the Hindu god Lord Shiva was found in the mosque, and that area was sealed off. However, the mosque committee has argued it is not a religious icon but part of a fountain for washing feet.

Last week, a court-ordered archaeological survey released a report saying it had found evidence “there existed a large Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure” in the 17th century.

On Wednesday, the Allahabad high court ruled the Hindu petitioners could worship in the basement of the mosque.

The judge said the barriers around the mosque should be removed by the end of the week to make way for Hindu devotees.