LUCKNOW: Indian court on Monday banned large Muslim prayer gatherings in one of north India's highest-profile mosques after a survey team found relics of the Hindu god Shiva and other Hindu symbols there, a lawyer involved in the case said.
The judge at the court in Varanasi — Hinduism's holiest city and the site of the historic Gyanvapi mosque — ruled that Islamic gatherings there should be limited to 20 people, lawyer H S Jain said.
The court ordered the survey of the mosque after five women — represented by Jain — sought permission to perform Hindu rituals in one part of it, saying a Hindu temple once stood on the site.