Gyanvapi Case: ASI to Conduct Scientific Survey of Mosque Complex Except ‘Wazukhana’ on Monday

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will conduct a scientific survey of the buildings of the Gyanvapi Mosque, except for the Wazukhana area, at 7 am on Monday.

This comes two days after the Varanasi court granted permission to conduct the survey based on a petition asking for it.

For this, the ASI team reached Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday and also met the Commissioner of Varanasi.

ASI was required to file a report after the survey was conducted, and to submit it to the Varanasi Court on 4th August 2023. The next court hearing will be on the same date.

The court was hearing a petition asking for a scientific survey, including carbon dating, to determine the age of a “shiffling” believed to have been found at the Jianfabi Mosque.

The AK Vishvesh Court upheld the petition by a group of Hindu devotees who sought a scientific survey to ascertain whether the mosque was constructed on the site of a Hindu temple. However, a fortified ‘wazukhana’, where there is a structure which Hindu litigants claim is a ‘shivling’, will not be included in the survey.

The mosque authorities confirmed that the building is in fact part of a fountain in the “Wazkhana”, where ablutions are performed before prayer.

Advocate Muhammad Tawheed Khan, representing the Muslim side, said, “Today the court granted the (Hindu side’s) application to conduct an ASI survey of the area, with the exception of the stamped ‘wazukhana.

The Hindu side had lodged a petition in the case, seeking a direction for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the entire Gyanvabi mosque complex.

Vishnu Shankar Jain, a lawyer representing the Hindu side, welcomed the matter and said, “The survey will be conducted. We will give a warning if the Muslim side applies to the Allahabad High Court or Supreme Court.”