Varanasi court admits plea seeking ASI survey of entire Gyanvapi Mosque premises

The applicants claimed that the Mosque had been constructed after demolishing a Hindu temple by Muslim rulers in 17th century.

Within days of the Allahabad High Court ordering a ''scientific survey'' of the Shivling which was allegedly found inside the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi during the videography survey of the premises last year, a Varanasi court on Tuesday accepted a plea seeking a survey of the entire Gyanvapi Mosque premises, adjoining the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

District judge A K Vishwesh, while admitting the plea, directed the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which looked after the Gyanvapi Mosque, to file its objections by May 19 and posted the matter for further hearing on May 22.

The application seeking a scientific survey of the entire premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque was filed by six Hindu applicants, who claimed that the Mosque had been constructed after demolishing a Hindu temple by Muslim rulers in 17th century and that the people who believed in the "Sanatan Dharma' were entitled to know the 'truth".

''We need to know what is buried under the Gyanvapi Mosque......when were the three domes constructed after demolishing the Temple.....we want answers to all these questions,'' Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu applicants, told reporters in Varanasi.

Jain also said that now the case would proceed just like the Ram Temple case.

A few days ago, the Allahabad High Court had directed the ASI to conduct "a scientific investigation through carbon dating" to ascertain the age of the 'shivling', which was allegedly found inside the Mosque premises during a videographic survey last year, without causing any damage to the structure.

The Hindu lawyers had claimed that a 'shivling' was found at a small pond after which the court had ordered sealing of the place. The lawyers representing the Muslim parties, however, refuted the claim and said that what was being called a 'shivling' was a 'fountain'.

The premises have been a bone of contention between the two communities for the past several decades but there was renewed clamor to ''take back'' the Kashi Vishwanath Temple premises by saffron outfits after the favourable decision of the apex court in the Ram Temple case.

The Hindu petitioners contended that a part of the temple had been demolished by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century. The Muslim side contended that the Mosque existed before the reign of Aurangzeb and also claimed that the same had also been mentioned in the land records.