A Varanasi district court on Wednesday said that the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the Gyanvapi mosque complex survey be given to both parties.
District Judge A K Vishvesh said both the Hindu and Muslim parties shall give an affidavit to keep the report with them and not make it public, said Madan Mohan Yadav, the counsel for Hindu side.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side, said, “Today, the court heard both sides and a consensus was reached that the hard copy of the ASI’s report will be provided to both sides…The ASI objected to providing the report via email. So, both sides agreed to get the hard copy of the report.”
Yadav said the ASI submitted its survey report in the Fast Track Court of Justice Prashant Singh after which the matter came in the district judge court who ordered to provide hard copies of the report to the parties.
Speaking to The Indian Express, advocate Mumtaz Ahmad, representing the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, said, “The District judge has ordered that parties can submit applications, and that they will be provided a copy of the ASI report”.
Earlier, District Judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha had fixed January 24 for deciding whether to make the report public or not.
Hindu petitioners had filed applications seeking a copy of the survey report.
On August 4, the ASI had undertaken the survey, on orders of the Varanasi court that had directed it to ascertain whether the mosque was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.
In its scientific survey, the ASI used ground penetrating radar and other scientific instruments to ascertain what lay beneath the surface of the mosque premises. The ASI has surveyed the inner and outer walls, the cellar and other parts of the premises, barring the ‘wazukhana’.
Both the Hindu and Muslim sides have sought copies of the ASI report, which was submitted by the ASI in two sealed covers in December before the court.
