Gyanvapi case: Allahabad high court allows survey

VARANASI: The Allahabad High Court has allowed the Archaeological Survey of India to carry out a scientific inspection of the Gyanvapi complex. The court has permitted to inspect except in the parts that include the Shivaling.

A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Allahabad High Court yesterday seeking the sealing of Plot No. 9130 of the Gyanvapi Campus. The Public Interest Litigation states that the signs seen in the survey should prohibit the entry of non-Hindus.

Dismissing the plea, Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker said that the Varanasi court's order for the ASI survey was justified and a scientific survey was required. The Anjuman Masjid Committee had approached the High Court on July 25 challenging the Varanasi court's order directing the ASI to survey the mosque premises.

The mosque committee had expressed concern that the mosque would collapse if the Archaeological Survey of India allowed the inspection. Four women had filed a case claiming that the temple was destroyed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and that the believers built a mosque over the ruins of the temple, and that a survey should be conducted. On July 21, the Varanasi District Court ordered a scientific survey on pleas that the Gyanvapi Masjid was built by encroaching on the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The proposal was to conduct a survey everywhere except the part where the Shivaling is said to have been seen.