Gyanvapi mosque case: Fresh hearing scheduled for tomorrow

Allahabad High Court is set to reexamine a petition challenging a Varanasi court’s directive for an ASI survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque was built over a temple

| Updated: 25 July, 2023 6:28 pm IST

Gyanvapi Mosque: Hindu prayers permitted in cellar as Allahabad HC dismisses appeal.

LAKHIMPUR, UP: The Allahabad High Court has scheduled a fresh hearing for July 26 on a petition challenging a Varanasi court’s directive to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey and ascertain if the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed atop a temple.

Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker presided over the hearing during the day and subsequently adjourned the matter for further proceedings on Wednesday.

Earlier, the management body of the Gyanvapi mosque, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, had approached the high court seeking relief.

Allahabad High Court will hear tomorrow a writ petition against Varanasi district judge’s order for ASI survey at Gyanvapi mosque complex

Supreme Court has put a stay on the survey till 5 pm on July 26, reports @dharmendra_lmp https://t.co/SWyTD7ZTp3

— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) July 25, 2023

The legal battle centres around a district court order from Varanasi, which instructed the ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey to determine whether the Gyanvapi mosque, situated in close proximity to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, was built upon the site of an ancient Hindu temple.

Hindu litigants in the district court had sought this survey to establish the presence of a temple at the same location in the past.

ALSO READ: Varanasi court orders ASI survey of Gyanvapi Mosque complex

Notably, the Varanasi district court issued the directive to the ASI on July 21, with a requirement for the use of advanced technologies like ground-penetrating radar and potential excavations, if deemed necessary.

However, the ASI’s survey activities came to a temporary halt on July 24, as the Supreme Court intervened and suspended the survey until 5 pm on July 26. This intermission granted the mosque management ample time to file an appeal against the district court’s order.

The Gyanvapi mosque, a historically significant religious structure, has now become a subject of legal scrutiny due to the claims made by the Hindu litigants. The matter has implications for the interfaith dynamics in Varanasi, a city known for its cultural heritage.