India Court Opens Up Part of Disputed Gyanvapi Mosque to Hindu Devotees

A Hindu group secured a court order to perform prayers inside the premises of a centuries-old mosque in the Indian city of Varanasi on Thursday, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi consecrated a controversial temple on another site where a mosque once stood.

A lower court in Varanasi ordered the southern basement of the Gyanvapi mosque be handed over to Hindu devotees for their prayers. Some other parts of the mosque remain sealed on the court’s previous orders.