The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the Varanasi district court’s decision to allow Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.The Varanasi district court had on January 31 ruled that a priest can offer prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.The order was delivered on the petition of Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who said his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas offered prayers till December 1993. Mr Pathak had requested that, as a hereditary pujari, he be allowed to enter the tahkhana and resume pooja.
