New Delhi: In a major victory to the Hindu side, the Supreme Court of India on Monday, April 1, upheld the Allahabad High Court's order allowing Hindus to continue prayers inside the ‘Vyas Ji Ka Tehkhana'. Allahabad High Court had earlier upheld the Varanasi district court. 

The Supreme Court also sought response of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple trustees on the plea of the mosque management committee.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also sought response of priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas by April 30 on the plea of the mosque committee. The bench, which also comprised Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was hearing the plea of the mosque committee which manages the affairs of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.

The high court, on February 26, had dismissed the committee's plea in which it had challenged the district court's January 31 order allowing Hindus to offer prayers in the cellar.

While dismissing the plea of the mosque committee, the high court had observed that the Uttar Pradesh government's 1993 decision of stopping worship rituals inside the "Vyas Tehkhana" -- located at the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi -- was "illegal".