The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the Allahabad High court order permitting the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), while directing that survey needs to be carried out in a “non-invasive” manner.
The Allahabad HC had on August 3 dismissed the Gyanvapi mosque committee’s plea challenging the order of a Varanasi district court asking for a “scientific investigation/ survey/ excavation” of the premises.
A team of ASI began a scientific survey of the complex at the Gyanvapi mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Friday morning, amid tight security.
The Gyanvapi mosque stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. According to the available historical record, it was built in the 17th century on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after destroying the original Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
Here’s a timeline of the Gyanvapi Case
1991- First Petition
The first petition of the case was filed by Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar in Varanasi court in 1991. Three demands were expressed by the petitioner- declaring the entire Gyanvapi complex as a part of the Kashi temple, removal of Muslims from the complex area, and demolition of the mosque.
1998
Another case was filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee which approached the Allahabad High Court, asserting that the dispute between the temple and mosque could not be decided by a civil court as it was not permissible by the law. As a result, the High Court stayed the proceedings for 22 years.
2019
The case was revived when the “next friend” of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar, Vijay Shankar Rastogi filed a plea in the Varanasi Court demanding an Archaeological survey of the disputed area.
2020
This plea further encouraged the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee to oppose the petition seeking an ASI survey of the entire Gyanvapi complex.
In the same year, the petitioner approached the lower court for the resumption of the hearing of 1991 petition.
March 2021
The Places of Worship Act 1991 was taken up by a bench in the Supreme court led by the former Chief Justice S A Bobde to examine its substantiality. The bench demanded the Central government’s response on a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay that questioned the validity of the act.
August 2021
The case again gained its momentum when five female devotees filed a petition in the Varanasi Court seeking permission to worship deities Hanuman, Nandi, and Shringar Gauri, inside the premises of Gyanvapi.
September 2021
In the judgment given by a single judge bench of Allahabad High Court, it was announced that the court should wait for further judgement in the already proceeding cases of the matter. “The court below should not have proceeded and decided the application filed by the plaintiffs in the Original Suit for survey by Archaeological Survey of India. In the opinion of the Court, the Court below should wait for the verdict in the petitions pending before this Court and not proceed further in the matter till the time a judgement is delivered.” said the Court.
April 2022
On the basis of the petition filed in August 2021, the Varanasi court appointed an advocate commissioner and ordered a videography survey of the complex.The order was again challenged by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee in the Allahabad High court, which upheld the order of the lower court. This time, the party also filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court.
May 2022
May 6: The videographic survey of the Gyanvapi complex began
May 12: The court appointed senior advocate Vishal Singh to supervise the survey and was also appointed as special advocate commissioner. The team was directed to report all the recorded details of the survey by 17 May.
May 14-19: The survey resumed again and was conducted for two days. All the survey findings were submitted in a report to the court.
May 20: The case proceedings were transferred to a district judge by the apex court, saying that case required involvement of a more ‘seasoned hand’ to deal with the case. The SC subsequently said it would intervene only after the district judge had decided on the preliminary aspects of the case.
May 26:
The district court began hearing the maintainability petition of the case. However, the argument given by the petitioner’s side, that of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, remained incomplete till that date. This led to further extension of the date of the hearing.
August 2022
Varanasi district judge Ajai Krishna Vishvesha reserved his order till 12 September. The time was given to both parties to complete their arguments.
October 2022
Varanasi district court rejected the plea for carbon dating of the shivling claimed to have been found in the Gyanvapi mosque.
November 2022
The supreme court agreed to set up a bench to hear the case.
May 2023
May 12: Allahabad High Court ordered the determination of the age of the Shivling using modern technology.
May 19: Supreme Court defers scientific survey to determine the age of Shivling.
July 2023
July 21: Varanasi district court directs the ASI to conduct the survey — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque was built at a place where a temple existed earlier.
July 24: SC halts ASI’s survey at premises till 5 pm on July 26, asks HC to hear the mosque panel’s plea.
July 25: A day after the SC order, challenging the district court’s order directing the ASI to carry out the survey of the premises (except the wuzu khana).
July 27: Allahabad HC reserved its order, and extended the stay on the ASI’s survey until August 3.
August 3: Allahabad HC allows scientific survey of Gyanvapi premises “in the interest of justice”.
August 3: Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee moves Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad HC order that refused to stay the Varanasi court’s direction for a scientific survey.
August 4: Supreme court refused to stay the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque at Varanasi, except the ‘wuzukhana’ area where a ‘shivling’ was claimed to have been found last year.