On Monday, the district court in Varanasi received a sealed report on the Gyanvapi mosque from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The deadline for submitting the Gyanvapi Mosque report has been extended by the Varanasi court six times now.
The archaeological body was already given one more week by the district court to produce a report on the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The next date of the hearing in the Gyanvapi mosque is December 21.
Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is representing the Hindu petitioners, said, “The report in sealed cover was placed before the court by the ASI’s standing counsel Amit Srivastava.”
Following the submission of the survey report for the Gyanvapi mosque, ASI Additional Standing Counsel Rahul Mishra said that the Varanasi court would make its decision on December 21. “The court considered each side. The court will issue a thorough order on December 21,” he stated.
The ASI was conducting a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, which are adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, in order to ascertain whether the mosque built in the 17th century was built over an earlier Hindu temple construction.
The survey commenced subsequent to the Allahabad High Court’s confirmation of the Varanasi district court’s directive, finding that the action was “necessary in the interest of justice” and would assist both the Muslim and Hindu factions involved in the conflict.
After the Allahabad High Court order, the Gyanvapi committee moved the Supreme Court against the order. The apex court had, on August 4, refused to stay the high court’s order on the ASI survey.
In its order, the bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, asked the ASI not to carry out any invasive act during the survey. This ruled out any excavations, which the Varanasi court had said could be conducted if necessary.
