Gyanvapi Mosque case: Varanasi court allows ASI survey inside mosque premises

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Varanasi Court on Friday pronounced its order allowing ASI survey to be conducted inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises excluding the Wazu tank which has been sealed. A petition was filed by the Hindu side seeking direction for a “scientific survey” of the entire Gyanvapi mosque premises by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque case, said, «I have been informed that my application has been approved and the court has directed to conduct an ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, excluding the Wazu tank which has been sealed.» The Hindu side of the long-running dispute submitted a petition letter in the Varanasi court asking for an ASI study of the entire complex of the Gyanvapi mosque located in Vishwanath temple. «Our application for the ASI survey has been accepted.

It's a turning point in the case,» ANI quoted advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, representing Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case, as saying. Advocates and supporters of the Hindu side are hopeful and eagerly waiting for the Court's verdict on the petition.

The court completed arguments on a petition last Friday (July 14). The petition was filed in May this year by five women who in another plea had earlier sought permission to pray at the “Shringar Gauri Sthal” inside the shrine complex.

A structure — claimed to be a “Shivling” on one side and a “fountain” on the other side — was found on the mosque premises. Jain, the counsel for the Hindu side, earlier on July 14 said, «We kept our point in front of the court… Honourable Supreme Court on May 21 gave judgment in our favour… we kept our viewpoint in front of the district court seeking an investigation of the site by ASI… Let