The Allahabad High Court is expected to pronounce its final verdict on the Archaeological Survey of India conducting a survey of Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Thursday.
Here are 10 updates on the Gyanvapi mosque case:
1. On July 21, a Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct the survey, including excavations, wherever necessary, to determine if the mosque was built at a place where a temple existed earlier. The ASI needed to determine if the mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple.
2. The ASI began the survey on 24 July but the Supreme Court halted till 5 pm on July 26 saying “some breathing time” needed to be granted to appeal a district court order.
3. The Centre has assured the Supreme Court that the survey will not alter the structure in any way. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had said the survey plan includes only measurement, photography, and radar studies.
4. The Gyanvapi mosque hit the headlines after a group of women approached a lower court in Varanasi for permission from a Hindu deity in the mosque’s complex on all days claiming a temple used to exist earlier.
5. Thereafter, the court ordered a video survey of the complex based on this petition in 2022. During the survey, a structure was discovered that the petitioners claimed was a ‘shivling’.
6. However, the mosque management committee said the structure was part of a fountain in the ‘wazukhana’, which is an area filled with water where people wash their hands and feet before praying.
7. Considering the sensitivity of the case, the Supreme Court ordered the sealing of the alleged ‘shivling’ area.
8. In September 2022, the Varanasi district Court dismissed a challenge by the mosque committee, which argued that the women’s request to worship Hindu deities inside the complex premises was not maintainable.
9. And, in May, the Allahabad High Court also dismissed the committee’s petition on maintainability.
10. Located in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, the Gyanvapi mosque is one of several mosques that some believe were built after razing off of temples by the Mughals. BJP had raised questions about the existence of this mosque in the 1980s and 1990s.
