Allahabad High Court allows ASI to survey Gyanvapi mosque complex

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday (August 3) upheld the district court's order to allow the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi. Dismissing the plea of the Muslim side, the bench ofChief Justice Pritinker Diwaker said that the Varanasi district court was justified in ordering the ASI survey and that the scientific survey is necessary in the interest of justice.

The Allahabad High Court had previously asked the ASI not to start Gyanvapi mosque’s survey in Varanasi, after the ASI’s detailed scientific survey was postponed by the Supreme Court till 5 pm on July 26. The survey’s purpose was to find out if the mosque, which is situated adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, was constructed on top of a temple.

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The apex court was responding to a plea submitted against the order given by the district court which directed the ASI to carry out the controversial survey. “Allahabad HC has said that the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex is to start. Sessions court order upheld by HC,” said Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi survey case, while speaking to news agency ANI.

Gyanvapi mosque complex and the question of 'shivling'

At the heart of the case is the contention by a group of Hindu petitioners that there is a 'shivling', a holy structure of the religion, in the mosque complex which they want to worship. The Muslim representatives argue that it is a fountain.

In the Gyanvapi mosque case, the Supreme Court had earlier inadvertently disposed of the committee's appeal challenging the maintainability of the lawsuit which was filed by Hindus in the trial court, demanding rights to worship inside the mosque.

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However, interim relief was granted by the top court as it placed a stay on the ASI survey and the main case was disposed of on July 24. An interim plea was filed by the mosque committee with the top court in the pending petition appealing for a halt to the ASI's work.

Varanasi district judge AK Vishvesha had given the order to ASI to carry out a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex on July 21 after receiving an application from four Hindu women on May 16, 2023. However, the complex’s ablution pond area was excluded by the court, which was already sealed on the order of the top court.

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