ABBOTTABAD: The Peshawar High Court, Abbottabad bench on Monday permitted Hindus to worship in the Shiv Jee temple in the district.

The single-judge bench comprising Justice Ateeq Hussain Shah, while giving the verdict, allowed the Hindus to worship in the temple under article 20 of the constitution. The temple has been closed for last few decades.

In 2013, a Hindu nongovernment organisation, Balmaik Saba, filed a petition with the PHC Abbottabad bench, informing the court that it had purchased the Hindu property on lease from its legal owner. The petition was filed to seek court’s intervention to stop the Cantonment Board Abbottabad from taking control of the property.

In response, the court had granted stay to the petitioner against the seizure of Hindu property by the cantonment board.

The petitioner had pleaded before the court that after partition of the subcontinent they had been looking after the Shiv Jee temple.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017