Varanasi court likely to provide gyanvapi survey report to both sides today

Varanasi court likely to provide gyanvapi survey report to both sides today

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee on Monday asked the Court not to give the ASI report to any party to which the Hindu side is objecting.

The district court in Varanasi is today expected to give copies of the Gyanvapi survey report to both sides, days after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) filed it in a sealed cover. The survey was ordered by the court after the petitioners claimed the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing temple.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, filed a plea urging the court that the report should remain sealed, and not be given to any of the parties unless a personal undertaking on an affidavit is submitted that it will not be leaked.

‘The Muslim side has requested the court that the report should not be made public. The court will decide today whether it will accept the (ASI) report in a sealed envelope or it should be made public,’ said Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, lawyer of the Hindu side.

Chaturvedi asserted that the Supreme Court's order explicitly stated that the report should not be filed in a sealed cover.

The survey was carried out on the direction of the district court's July 21 order that mentioned the need to survey beneath the mosque's domes, the cellars and the western wall. The court had asked the ASI to ensure that no damage is done to the structure standing on the disputed land.

The survey, initiated on August 4, excluded the 'wazu khana,' following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting the spot.

The ASI was given multiple extensions to complete the survey.

Meanwhile, the Allahabad high court on Thursday allowed a similar survey of the Shahi Eidgah mosque abutting the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura. The high court was on Monday due to discuss the modalities of the survey, but put the hearing off on a request from the Muslim side.

In both Varanasi and Mathura, Hindu groups argue that temples were demolished by Islamic rulers to build mosques, and therefore, the land should be returned to Hindus.

Muslim groups reject the contention, saying that the 1991 Places of Worship Act – which locks the religious character of holy sites as they existed on the day of independence, with the exception of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site – bars any such petitions. Some of these pleas are also pending before the Supreme Court.