The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises barring the ‘Wazukhana’ area at 7 AM on Monday.
This comes two days after, the Varanasi Court had given permission for the survey based on a petition seeking it.
For this, the ASI team reached Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on Sunday, and also had a met the Varanasi Commissioner.
The ASI was asked to file a report after conducting its survey, and submit it to the Varanasi court on August 4, 2023. The court’s next hearing will also be on the same date.
The court was hearing a petition seeking a scientific survey, including carbon dating, to determine the age of “Shivling” which was believed to have been found at the Gyanvapi mosque.
A K Vishvesh’s court upheld the petition of a group of Hindu devotees who sought a scientific survey to ascertain if the mosque was constructed on the site of a Hindu temple. However, the barricaded ‘wazukhana,’ where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a ‘shivling’ exists, will not be included in the survey.
The mosque authorities have asserted that the structure is actually a part of a fountain in the ‘wazukhana,’ where ablutions are performed before namaz.
Advocate Mohammad Tauheed Khan, representing the Muslim side, said, “Today the court approved the application of the (Hindu side) to conduct the ASI survey of the area, except the sealed ‘wazukhana.’
The Hindu side had filed a petition in the case, seeking a direction for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the entire Gyanvapi mosque complex.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel representing the Hindu side, welcomed the order and said, “the survey will be done. We will file a caveat if the Muslim side approaches Allahabad High Court or the Supreme Court.”
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