Gyanvapi Case: Hindu Side Seeks Transfer of Basement to District Magistrate

Varanasi: The Hindu party in the ongoing Gyanvapi case has filed a fresh request in a Varanasi district court, seeking the transfer of the basement within the Gyanvapi complex, currently under the possession of the Vyas family, to the District Magistrate.

The basement in question, known as ‘tahkhana,’ is situated in the southern part of the Gyanvapi mosque. The Hindu side is insisting on the immediate handover of this basement to the District Magistrate, who would be appointed as its receiver.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Vyas family, stated, “We have filed a civil suit on behalf of the Vyas family in the honourable civil court in Varanasi. We have also applied to the Varanasi district court and district judge to transfer the original trial to the district court, similar to what is being done in other cases.”

He further explained, “Our demand is that the basement, located on the southern side of the Masjid, should be taken over by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee. Therefore, we have requested that the possession of this basement be handed over to the District Magistrate immediately, with the DM being appointed as its receiver.”

The Vyas family currently maintains ownership of one of the four basements within the Gyanvapi complex, which was surveyed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1991, the Vyas family had initiated a case demanding that the Gyanvapi mosque structure be handed over to Hindus. They argued that, apart from the upper structure where namaz is offered and the domes, the entire structure still rests on the Lord Visheshwar temple.

Despite no longer residing within the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex, the Vyas family retains possession of one of the four basements of the mosque. In a recent development, the Allahabad High Court granted an extension of four weeks to the ASI for completing their survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex.