Varanasi Court Reserves Order On Plea To Hand Over Keys Of Basement At Gyanvapi Complex To DM

The Varanasi court on Saturday completed the hearing on a petition seeking the handing over of keys to the basement at the Gyanvapi mosque complex to the Varanasi district magistrate and reserved its order for October 4.

Authorities barricaded and locked the basement known as ‘Vyas ji ka Tehkhana’ in 1993.

Prior to it, the basement was used for worship by Somnath Vyas, a priest, according to petitioner Madan Mohan Yadav.
Yadav pleaded that the key be handed over to the district magistrate, fearing that the contents of basement could be tampered with.

Previously on Friday, District Judge AK Vishvesh posted the matter to Saturday for further hearing after accepting the Kashi Vishwanath Trust’s plea for more time to prepare its argument.

Yadav claimed that during the hearing, the advocate for the Kashi Vishwanath Trust stated that they have no objection to the plea for handing over the keys of the basement to the district magistrate.

District government counsel Rajesh Mishra stated that, “The court has now reserved its order on the matter for October 4.”

The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple here, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a Hindu temple.