Gyanvapi issue: Stones pelted in UP’s Bareilly as police detain Islamic cleric, says report

At least one person was injured as stones were reportedly pelted in the Shamat Ganj area in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly on Friday. India Today quoted the district magistrate as saying that the police are investigating the matter and a first information report (FIR) will be lodged.

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The incident was reported after the chief of Ittehad-e-Millat Council, Bareilly Sharif, Maulana Tauqeer Raza was detained by police for giving a 'jail bharo' call over the Gyanvapi matter.

Tauqeer Raza Khan had given a 'jail bharo andolan' (fill the prison) call on Thursday, asking his supporters to follow him and get arrested, India Today reported.

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A large crowd had gathered in Bareilly, following Maulana Tauqeer Raza's call. The incident took place after the Friday prayers in Bareilly, INDIA TV reported.

According to the report, the stone pelting incident was reported in Shyamganj market.

"The miscreants who came to Tauqeer Raza's protest pelted stones in which many people sustained injuries. The police later brought the situation under control," the report said.

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The Islamic cleric's call came after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement in the Assembly on Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura.

"When I speak about injustice, we recall the 5000-year-old thing. Injustice was done even to the Pandavas at that time...That had happened with Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura," CM Yogi had said in the Assembly.

Gyanvapi case

The Supreme Court is dealing with matters pertaining to Mathura's Krishna Janambhoomi land dispute. Also, matters relating to the Gyanvapi mosque, based in Kashi, are in the hands of the court.

A Varanasi court on Thursday fixed February 15 as the date for hearing the Gyanvapi Masjid committee's plea against the recently allowed 'puja' in a cellar of the mosque, the Hindu side's counsel said.

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The Varanasi district court had on January 31 ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

According to the petition, priest Somnath Vyas used to perform prayers there till 1993 when the cellar was closed by the authorities. Shailendra Kumar Pathak, the maternal grandson of Somnath Vyas, had sought the right to worship the deities there.