The Allahabad High Court on Monday termed the former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh’s move in 1993 to stop Hindu worship rituals in one of the cellars of Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi as ‘illegal’. In its observation, the high court said that the worship rituals were stopped by “illegal action of State without there being any order in writing”, LiveLaw reported.
Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the underground cellar, referred to as Vyas Ji Ka Tehkhana, was sealed. The Babri Masjid demolition led to the resignation of then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, prompting the dismissal of his government and the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh.
In the Assembly elections next year, a government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav assumed office and sealed the cellar temple, citing law and order concerns.
“The act of the State Government since the year 1993 restraining the Vyas family from performing religious worship and rituals and also by the devotees was a continuous wrong being perpetuated,” the high court said on Monday.
The court, in its observation, also noted that stopping worship and performing rituals by the devotees in the cellar “would be against their interest”, according to LiveLaw.
Furthermore, the high court said that the rights protected under Article 25 for citizens cannot be arbitrarily revoked by the State. It asserted that Vyas family’s religious freedom, including conducting religious worship and rituals in their cellar, cannot be arbitrarily curtailed by government directives issued orally.
The Allahabad High Court made these observations while dismissing a petition filed by the Muslim side against a Varanasi court order permitting the offering of Hindu prayers and puja in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi Mosque.
Terming the then Uttar Pradesh government’s order in 1993 to seal the southern cellar ‘illegal’, the high court said worship will continue in the “Vyas Tehkhana” of the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Source Agencies
