LUCKNOW: The Varanasi district court, on Friday, granted eight more weeks to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to complete the ongoing scientific survey on the Gyanvapi mosque premises and submit its report. However, District Judge Dr AK Vishvesh dismissed the objection of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM), the mosque management committee, to the ASI plea providing additional time to the survey agency.
Notably, the ASI has been carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi to ascertain whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The survey is being conducted on the mosque premises barring the sealed area around the ablution pond where a purported Shivlinga-like structure was found during a court-commissioned survey in May last year.
The ASI commenced its survey after the Allahabad High Court upheld a Varanasi district court order and ruled that the step was “necessary in the interest of justice” and that it would benefit both the Hindus and Muslims. The court had fixed September 4 as the date for the Archaeological Survey of India to complete the survey and submit the report. As the survey work was not complete, the advocate of the ASI had sought additional time of eight weeks (56 days) to complete the survey work.
During the last hearing, the Muslim side had presented its objection and said the ASI team was not authorised to survey the premises by removing debris or garbage as it would weaken the mosque structure.
The Muslim side had also alleged that ASI was digging in the basement as well as other places of the mosque complex without permission and accumulating debris on the western wall of the structure, which may pose a risk of collapse of the structure.
The ASI survey work resumed on August 4. The Varanasi court, the same day, also granted the ASI an additional month to complete the survey, extending its original deadline from August 4 to September 4.
However, to challenge the Varanasi court’s order off scientific survey, upheld by the Allahabad High Court, AIM had petitioned the Supreme Court which, on August 4, refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order on an ASI survey.