Varanasi District Court Allows ASI Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque Premises

The District Court of Varanasi on the 21 July allowed the application filed by four Hindu women seeking a survey of the entire Gyanvapi Mosque premises (except for Wuzukhana).

This was done to find out as to whether the Mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of the Hindu Temple.

The District Judge A K Vishwesha pronounced the order after hearing both parties on 14 July.

The application was moved in May, 2023 under Section 75(e) and Order 26 Rule 10A of CPC by the four Hindu Women, in a suit pending before the Varanasi Court, seeking all year-round worshipping rights in the Gyanvapi Mosque compound.

The application stated that Swayambhu Jyotirlinga existed at the site in question for lakhs of years, however, the same was destroyed/damaged several times by Muslim invaders who were against idol worship beginning with the attach by Mahmud Ghazni in 1017 AD.

The plea also contended that Aurangzeb issued farman in 1669 to demolish the temple of Lord Adivisheshwar and his subordinates carried out the order by demolishing the aforesaid temple.

It also added that later on adjacent to the old temple which was demolished, a new temple in the name of Kashi Vishwanath was built in 1777-1780 by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, the queen of Indore.

Therefore, the application contended that the premises, which currently is in a dilapidated condition, speaks aloud about its ancient past, and after visualising the building structure, one can easily say that the building is the remains of an old Hindu Temple and that the present structure cannot be deemed to be Mosque, by any stretch of the imagination.

Moreover, in support, the application referred to the May 2022 incident when advocate commissioners, pursuant to Court orders, made a survey of the subject temple and purportedly found a 'Shiva Linga' on the first floor of the building in question.

The application elaborates on how the entire Mosque premises has numerous artefacts and signs of Hindu temple.

In the end, it has been argued that presumption and assumptions howsoever strong it maybe, have to be proved by scientific methods before the Court to come to a logical conclusion.

Therefore, a request for survey of the entire premises by the Archaeological Survey of India was requested.