The Supreme Court has received a petition from the Gyanvapi mosque committee in Varanasi, opposing a High Court order that permitted a “scientific survey” of the mosque complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The Allahabad High Court had passed the order today, saying that a survey by the ASI was necessary for the sake of justice. However, the Supreme Court had earlier stopped any survey inside the mosque complex.
The mosque committee had challenged the lower court order for a survey in the High Court, but their plea was rejected.
The High Court asked the ASI to “find out” if the “present structure” was constructed over a “pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”, as alleged by the Hindu petitioners in the case.
The Hindu petitioners have claimed that a temple existed at the site before it was demolished in the 17th Century on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
The ASI had started a survey of the mosque complex on July 24 following the lower court’s orders. But within hours, it was halted by the Supreme Court when the mosque committee approached it, arguing that any digging might damage the 1000-year-old structure.
The committee had also argued that any such survey was in violation of existing laws regarding religious places.
The mosque’s ‘wazukhana’ – where a structure that the petitioners claimed was a ‘shivling’ – will not be part of the fresh survey as per a Supreme Court order.