Allahabad High Court allows survey of Gyanvapi Mosque, dismisses Muslim side's plea

The Allahabad High Court allowed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi rejecting the Muslim side's plea of stopping the survey.

ASI team will start conducting the survey shortly as directed by the court. Sessions court order upheld was upheld by HC, says Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in Gyanvapi survey case.

The court of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker was hearing the plea filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the mosque, against the Varanasi District Court’s order that had allowed the survey of the complex, excluding the wazukhana area.

On July 28, appearing for the state of Uttar Pradesh, Advocate General Ajai Mishra said the state government is there to maintain law and order and that it has no concern with the survey.

The counsel for the Hindu side, Vishnu Shankar Jain had then submitted that the district court has called for an ASI survey to come to a logical conclusion. He had also presented in the court some photographs of the western side of the mosque showing the existence of Hindu idols and their worship. Earlier, when the hearing started in the case, ASI Additional Director Alok Tripathi had informed the court that the ASI is not going to dig the structure.

On July 21, a Varanasi court had directed the ASI to conduct the survey of the mosque to find out whether the mosque was built on the site of a temple. The survey that began on July 24, was stalled by the Supreme Court which ordered "some breathing time" to appeal a district court order.

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