Gyanvapi mosque case: Varanasi court orders ASI survey, Hindu side celebrates ‘turning point’

livemint.com:

A Varanasi court has ordered an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) or scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque which is located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, according to government counsel Rajesh Mishra, prompting celebration among the Hindu side. However, the ‘wazukhana’, where a ‘shivling’ as claimed by the Hindu litigants exists, will not be part of the survey. That area has been sealed and the matter is in the Supreme Court.

The court of AK Vishvesh upheld the petition of a group of Hindu devotees seeking a scientific survey to determine if the mosque was built at the site of a Hindu temple. Vishnu Shankar Jain, who was representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque case, informed that the survey could be completed in three to six months. "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.

I think the survey can be completed within 3 to 6 months. We will participate in the ASI survey," he said. Appearing for the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case, advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi said, “Our application for the ASI survey has been accepted.

It's a turning point in the case." 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. The Muslim side has objected to the ASI survey of the mosque, saying that it could damage the Gyanvapi complex.