Gyanvapi Case news: A Varanasi court on Friday rejected the Gyanvapi mosque management committee’s plea to stop the ongoing scientific survey of the complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), reports PTI.
The plea was filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid’s committee.
District Judge A K Vishvesh said the survey has already got the nod from the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court. Hence, it was not possible to pass any order in this matter from this court, the judge said.
The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, which stands next to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, to ascertain whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a Hindu temple as claimed by Hindu petitioners.
The judge had ordered the ASI survey on July 21, 2023 to determine whether the mosque stood atop an Old Shiva temple. The Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court had upheld that later.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid’s committee had in its plea contended that the ASI was using “invasive methods” and flouting prescribed norms.
The district judge said that no new conditions can be imposed on the plaintiffs. “The Archaeological Survey of India is not a private organisation. It is doing government work. It is not right to force someone to pay the expenses of the survey,” the judge said on Thursday.
He also said that the court heard the petition of the Hindu side to survey the sealed ‘wazukhana’ in the Gyanvapi complex. It is listed for October 5.