"Right to offer prayers restored": Advocate Hari Jain on Gyanvapi mosque ruling

Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 31 : Advocate Hari Shankar Jain said the Varanasi court order has restored the right of Hindu devotees to offer prayers at the Gyanvapi mosque complex and it is a "historic decision."
Jain said that then the Mulayam Singh government "put up" barricades and "barred the entry" of Hindus.
Jain told ANI, "This is a historic decision..."
"Till 1993, Hindus had been performing prayers there for centuries... In 1993, Mulayam Singh's government put up the barricades and iron fencing and barred Hindus from performing prayers... (With today's court order) The right to perform prayers has been restored..."
He was responding to an order from Varanasi Court on Wednesday allowing Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas Ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
The court has asked the district administration to make the necessary arrangements in the next seven days.
Petitioners and advocates representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case flashed a victory sign after the court order.
The mosque has four 'tahkhanas' (cellars) in the basement out of which one is still in possession of the Vyas family who used to live here.
Vyas had petitioned that as hereditary pujari he be allowed to enter the tahkhana and resume pooja.
On January 17, 'Vyas Ka Tekhana' was taken into possession by the district administration.
Somnath Vyas's family used to worship in the basement until 1993.
After 1993, the prayers were stopped in the basement on the orders of the then-state government.