Gyanvapi: Allahabad HC to pronounce verdict on Aug 3; stay on ASI survey remains till then

The Allahabad High Court will pronounce its verdict on the petition seeking a stay on the Varanasi court's order for a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on August 3.

A single-judge bench comprising chief justice Pritinker Diwaker on Thursday reserved its ruling on the petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which looked after the Gyanvapi Mosque.

The court extended the stay on the order for the ASI survey till August 3.

Read | Allahabad High Court to resume hearing on plea against ASI survey on Gyanvapi premises

Earlier during the hearing, the counsel for the Hindu petitioners Vishnu Shankar Jain said that in the earlier survey conducted by the Commissioner, evidence such as ''swastika sign'', indicating that the structure (Gyanvapi Mosque) was in fact a temple, had surfaced. ''The ASI survey can reveal crucial evidence as had happened in the Ram Janmabhoomi case,'' Jain contended.

The counsel for the Masjid Committee, however, opposed the contention of Jain and said that the Survey was an attempt to gather evidence. ''The court cannot gather evidence... the complainant has to furnish evidence,'' he said.

The premises had 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 the 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.