A team of the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) on Friday morning began a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi premises in Varanasi to determine whether the 17th-century mosque has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
The survey began amid tight security arrangements a day after the Allahabad high court upheld a district court order and ruled that the proposed survey is “necessary in the interest of justice” and will benefit both sides”.
Top updates on Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque survey
1. The Muslim body Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee will not participate in the survey as it did on July 24, when the Supreme Court put on the survey on hold. The committee’s joint secretary SM Yasin said the high court has ordered the ASI to conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid without causing any damage to the mosque. “The Anjuman Intazamiya Masjid appealed against the order in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Its hearing is fixed for today,” he said appealing to the officials to postpone the survey.
2. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee moved the Supreme Court against the Allahabad high court order permitting the ASI survey at the Gyanvapi mosque.
3. The matter was mentioned by advocate Nizam Pasha before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who was heading a five-judge constitution bench hearing the arguments in the Article 370 issue and was rising for the day, seeking an urgent hearing. “The Allahabad High Court has passed an order today. We have filed an SLP against the order. I have sent an email (seeking urgent hearing). Let them not proceed with the survey… ,” Pasha said. The CJI said, “I will look at the email right away.” One of the parties from the Hindu side has also filed a caveat in the apex court saying that no orders be passed without hearing them in the matter.
4. Varanasi District Magistrate S Rajalingam said the ASI has sought assistance from the local administration to start the survey from Friday. He said detailed discussions were held with the Varanasi Police Commissioner on security during the survey and that the district administration is fully prepared to start the work.
5. Dismissing the petition by the Muslim body, which manages the affairs of the Gyanvapi mosque, challenging a district court order that had permitted the ASI survey, the bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker held that the order is just and proper, and no interference from the high court is warranted.
6. The high court ordered the ASI director to conduct a detailed scientific investigation by using GPR survey, excavation, dating method and other modern techniques of the present structure to find out whether the same has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of Hindu temple.
7. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee moved the HC on July 25, a day after the Supreme Court halted the ASI survey till 5pm on July 26, allowing time for the committee to appeal against the lower court’s order.
8. Chief Justice Diwaker had reserved the order on the mosque committee’s petition on July 27 after hearing arguments from both sides. The court had also stayed the ASI survey till Thursday.
9. The mosque ‘wazu khana’, where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a ‘shivling’ exists, will not be part of the survey — following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the Gyanvapi complex.
10. Hindu activists claim that a temple existed earlier at the site and was demolished in the 17th century on the order of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
