Allahabad HC issues notice to Gyanvapi Mosque Committee on plea for scientific survey of 'Wazukhana'

Lucknow: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday issued notice to the Anjuman Intezamiya Committee, which looked after the contentious Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, on a plea challenging a Varanasi court's refusal to include 'wazukhana' (the place where the Muslims wash themselves before proceeding to offer prayers) in its order for a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last year.

A single bench comprising justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal issued the notice on a revision petition filed by Rakhee Singh, one of the Hindu plaintiffs in the Shringar Gauri case currently pending before a district court in Varanasi.

A Varaansi court had last year allowed a plea for a scientific survey of the Mosque premises by the ASI but it said that the 'wazu khana' would not be surveyed.

The ASI report was submitted in the court, which also allowed the Hindu and Muslim sides to have certified copies of the same.

Later the lawyer of the Hindu plaintiffs in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque case claimed that the ASI report stated there was evidence that a Hindu temple existed on the Mosque site and that the Mosque had been built after demolishing a Hindu temple in the 17th century.

The Muslim side, however, refuted the assertions and said that there was no conclusive evidence to this effect.

The survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises had been undertaken after the Allahabad high court rejected the petition filed by the Muslim litigants seeking a stay on the Varanasi court's order for a scientific survey by the ASI. The supreme court had also refused to stay the survey.