The Allahabad High Court has directed a Varanasi court to decide within eight weeks an application seeking unrestricted right to worship a `shivling` purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises in May 2022.

On May 16, 2022, during a court-ordered survey of the Gyanvapi premises adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, a structure found in the wazukhana area was claimed to be a `shivling` by the Hindu side and a `fountain` by the Muslim side.