"Declare it national monument...": Advocate Hari Shankar Jain on ASI report on Gyanvapi Case
Gyanvapi Case, Advocate Hari Shankar Jain on Friday asserted that report clearly stated that a temple «existed» at the site of Gyanvapi mosque and urged the government to declare it a «national monument.»
«The report clearly states that a temple existed at the site ( of Gyanvapi mosque). The Government of India should take further steps in this matter, declare it a national monument and handover the whole area to Hindus by passing a law.
A trust like the one in Ayodhya should be made here also so that offering of prayers can begin,» Hari Shankar Jain told on Friday.
Earlier on Thursday, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the Gyanvapi mosque complex revealed that a pre-existing structure appeared to have been destroyed in the 17th century, and «part of it was modified and reused,» adding that based on scientific studies, it can be said that there «existed a large Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure.»
The ASI also said the «western wall of the existing structure is the remaining part of a pre-existing Hindu temple».
«The Arabic-Persian inscription found inside a room mentions that the mosque was built in the 20th regnal year of Aurangzeb (1676-77 CE). Hence, the pre-existing structure appears to have been destroyed in the 17th century, during the reign of Aurangzeb, and part of it was modified and reused in the existing structure.
