Varanasi court allows ASI to survey Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque complex scroll.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scroll.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
After the civil court in Varanasi on Thursday gave its approval for survey of Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi Mosque complex by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Sunni Central Waqf Board has decided to challenge it. The chairman of Sunni Board Zufar Ahmad Faruqi said that the order of the Civil Judge, Varanasi, ordering a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India would be challenged before the High Court. The order was issued after a petition was filed by a local lawyer VS Rastogi who had demanded that the land entailing the Gyanvapi Mosque be restored to Hindus. The petitioner claimed that Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1664 pulled down a portion of the 2000-year-old Kashi Vishwanath temple to build the mosque in its place. The management committee of Gyanvapi mosque had opposed the petition.
VARANASI: A local court on Thursday allowed a survey of the entire Gyanvapi Mosque complex, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple here, by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to find out whether the religious structure standing at the present and disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition, or there is structural overlapping of any kind .
The order came just over a year after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, saying there will be a Ram Mandir at the disputed site and Muslims will be given an alternate 5-acre land for their mosque.
Varanasi court orders ASI probe into Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanwapi mosque dispute
In his order, a senior civil judge of the fast track court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India at its expense
PTI | April 8, 2021 | Updated 22:10 IST
The order was given by a senior division civil court on a plea pending before it since 2019
A Varanasi court on Thursday ordered an archaeological survey of the disputed premises, claimed both by the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Gyanwapi mosque in the holy city.
The order was given by a senior division civil court on a plea pending before it since 2019, petitioner counsel Vijay Shankar Rastogi said.
The judge asked the Uttar Pradesh government to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India. (File Photo)
VARANASI: A local court of civil judge on Thursday allowed a survey of entire Gyanvapi mosque complex, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, by the Archaeological Survey of India to find out whether the religious structure standing at the present and disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition, or there is structural overlapping of any kind.
In its order, the court of civil judge (senior division), fast track, Ashutosh Tiwai, directed the ASI director general to constitute a five-member committee of eminent persons who are experts and well-versed in the science of archaeology, two of which should preferably belong to the minority community.