Gyanvapi mosque row: Court asks Hindu petitioners to keep leaked survey clip safe

Gyanvapi mosque case: Advocate Shivam Gaur, appearing for one of the petitioners, said an application was moved in the Varanasi district court seeking CBI probe into the leakage of the sealed documents.

The Varanasi district court on Tuesday directed the four Hindu women petitioners in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi Mosque case to keep the CDs of leaked video footage and photographs of the survey with them safe.

Women showing sealed envelop carrying footage and photographs of survey carried out inside the Gyanvapi mosque.  (HT Photo)

The four women had come to the court to surrender the CDs of the court-appointed survey inside the masjid, a day after it was leaked and got aired on some television channels and social media platforms.

The district court had given copies of the footage in a sealed packet to four of the five Hindu women petitioners after they gave an affidavit to not make the content received in the Compact Disks (CDs) public.

The court did not take back the CDs of the video footage and fixed July 4 as the next date of hearing. The women are seeking worshipping rights inside the mosque claiming the presence of a ‘Shivling’ on the premises.

Advocate Shivam Gaur, appearing for petitioner Rakhi Singh, said an application was moved in the Varanasi district court seeking CBI probe into the leakage of the sealed documents.

“I moved an application in the district court, seeking CBI probe in leak of video footage of the Gyanvapi survey report. The court fixed July 4 as date of hearing,” Gaur said.

The lower court is hearing the case after the Supreme Court said the “complexities and sensitivities involved in the matter” would require a “more senior and experienced hand” and transferred the suit to the district judge, asking him to decide all relevant issues.