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Gyanvapi mosque: ASI survey from today, panel moves top court
On Friday, the Varanasi district court ordered an extensive survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid by ASI.
A team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will begin a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque on Monday even as the mosque management committee filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Varanasi district court’s order allowing the inspection, people aware of the matter said on Sunday.
On Friday, the Varanasi district court ordered an extensive survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid by ASI to ascertain whether the mosque was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple, holding that the scientific investigation is “necessary” for the “true facts” to come out. The court, however, ordered excluding the section which has remained sealed since the Supreme Court order in May 2022. The area under seal is where Hindus insist a Shivling has been found, while Muslims claim it is part of a fountain.
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“The ASI survey will begin on Monday. All the parties, including plaintiffs and defendants related to the matter have been informed about it,” Varanasi district magistrate, S Rajalingam.
The mosque’s management committee said that it will not take part in the survey, adding that they have moved the Supreme Court against the district court’s ruling.
“If the survey begins from Monday, we will not participate in it. A petition against the order of the Varanasi district court has been filed by the counsel for the committee. The advocates of the committee filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Friday itself,” SM Yasin, the joint secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, said.
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Allowing an application by four Hindu women plaintiffs, district judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha on Friday directed ASI to conduct a survey, using dating, excavation and ground penetrating radar (GPR) techniques, of the plot where the mosque stands, next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and sought a report from ASI up to August 4 when the matter will be taken up next.
The court order came on two applications moved by four of the five Hindu plaintiffs who filed a suit in August 2021, demanding the right of unhindered worship at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, located inside the complex that houses idols of Hindu gods. Rekha Pathak, Manju Vyas, Sita Sahu, and Lakshmi Devi filed the application for the survey. Their pleas were argued by advocates Hari Shankar Jain, Vishnu Jain, Sudhir Tripathi and Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi.
The mosque management committee, in its reply, refuted that the mosque was built over a temple, maintaining the structure at the spot was always a mosque.
Represented through advocates Ansari and Ekhlaq Ahmad, the management committee opposed the survey, saying such an exercise cannot be ordered to collect evidence. It was also argued that a survey by an advocate commissioner was previously conducted in April 2022 and until the validity of that survey is not decided, no new survey can be ordered.
Moreover, Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh’s international chief Jitendra Singh Visen said that on behalf of Rakhi Singh, advocate Anupam Dwivedi will remain present during the survey.
