Gyanvapi ASI survey allowed by Allahabad high court

ASI survey was stalled on July 24 the day it began. The Allahabad high court said the survey is necessary in the interest of justice.

The Allahabad high court on Thursday ruled that the ASI survey on the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi will continue. The Muslim side's plea that the survey may damage the structure has been dismissed by the high court. The survey will be done in the terms of the ASI's affidavit, Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side said after the Allahabad high court's major verdict.

The nod has come for a 'scientific' survey of the barricaded area barring the sealed

area of the 'wazukhana'.

“Issue of commission is permissible. Varanasi Court justified. The scientific survey is necessary in the interest of justice,” the order stated, as per LiveLaw.

“I welcome this verdict. I am confident that the truth will come out after the ASI survey and Gyanvapi issue will be resolved,” UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said after the Allahabad high court verdict.

Muslim leader Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali said the Muslim side has the option to approach the Supreme Court against the Allahabad high court order.

On July 21, a Varanasi court directed the ASI to conduct a survey to determine where the mosque was actually built on the site of a temple. The survey began on July 24, but was stalled by the Supreme Court which ordered "some breathing time" to appeal a district court order.

The Gyanvapi case started after a group of women approached the court in Varanasi claiming a temple used to exist earlier. The court ordered a video survey of the complex. During the survey, a controversy arose over a structure which the Hindu side claimed to be a shivling and the mosque management committee said it was part of a fountain in the wazukhana.

No damage to be caused to the structure: Court

During the hearing, the ASI told the court that there will be no damage to the structure and in its order, the Allahabad high court emphasised that the condition has to be upheld. The court said the ASI must ensure that no damage is caused to the structure. The ASI assured the court that it has the technical capabilities to do the survey without causing structural damage or doing any excavation.

What Yogi Adityanath said on Gyanvapi earlier

"If we call it Gyanvapi mosque, there will be a problem. Whoever has eyes can see that there was a temple. What is a trishul doing inside a mosque? What is a jyotirlinga doing there? The walls are screaming that it is a temple. And a proposal should come from the Muslim society that there has been a historical mistake," Yogi Adityanath earlier said on Gyanvapi.

Hindustan Times

(National)