Varanasi: Court refuses to stay Gyanvapi Mosque survey, seeks report
A court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on Thursday ruled that survey inside the Gyanvapi Mosque would continue. The court also said the survey commissioner would not be removed, and ordered that the exercise be completed by May 17. The court further added two more advocates to the survey commission. Notably, the mosque management had sought replacement of the current surveying official.
- The Gyanvapi Mosque issue is on the lines of the Ayodhya dispute, which was resolved in 2019.
- In 1991, a number of petitioners had moved the Varanasi court, contending the mosque was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a Hindu temple in 1669.
- They demanded that the mosque be removed and the land be handed over to Hindus.
The court heard the petition for the survey official's replacement from Monday through Wednesday. On their part, the mosque management accused the surveying officer, advocate commissioner Ajay Mishra, of favoring Hindu petitioners in the court-ordered survey and demanded that he be removed. Last week, the official carried out an inconclusive survey of some parts in the complex following sloganeering from both the sides.
"Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal and Gyanvapi Mosque are separate and in such a situation, there is no justification for videography inside the mosque," Abhay Nath Yadav, who is representing the mosque management committee, had argued in the court. However, the court is considering the opening of the two basements located inside the Gyanvapi Mosque for videography.
On April 18, 2021, five Delhi-based women had demanded permission for year-long daily worship of of deities Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman, and Nandi placed in the mosque complex. Currently, devotees are allowed to worship at Shringar Gauri only on the fourth day of Chaitra Navratri. Later, on April 26, 2022, the court had ordered a survey and videography by the advocate commissioner.
In 1991, lawyer Vijay Shankar Rastogi had filed a petition in a Varanasi court as the "next friend" of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir's presiding deity. Rastogi argued Maharaja Vikramaditya built a temple—2,050 years ago—on the site where the Gyanvapi Mosque stood. Some other petitioners claimed Mughal ruler Aurangzeb built the mosque in the 17th century by removing a portion of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir.
Rastogi had also argued since the mosque was built on a temple ruin, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, wouldn't apply. So, Hindus should be granted ownership of the entire parcel of land and the right to worship inside the mosque, he asserted. However, a trial court in Varanasi ruled in 1997 that the petitioner's request was restricted by the aforementioned Act.
Subsequently, advocate Rastogi had filed another petition in December 2019 seeking the court's directions for an archaeological assessment of the Gyanvapi Mosque. His plea was filed a month after the Supreme Court's decision on the Ayodhya Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue.
In March 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor. However, in October 2019, a contractor removed a chabootra near gate number 4 of the Gyanvapi Mosque as part of the temple corridor construction. This led to communal tensions in the neighborhood, prompting the contractor to build the demolished structure overnight.
