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Journalism of Courage
The court-ordered survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of the Gyanvapi mosque complex located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi began Monday morning. The survey is being conducted to determine “whether the present structure was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”, officials said.
“Parking facilities have been made and barricading has also been done. All devotees can take a ‘darshan’ smoothly, and all security arrangements are in place,” DCP Kashi Zone, Ram Sewak Gautam, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
A 30-member ASI team entered the mosque complex at around 7 am to carry out the survey. The team had arrived in the city on Sunday. According to news agency PTI, the lawyers of all the Hindu petitioners to the legal dispute are also present at the spot.
On Friday, a Varanasi court had issued directions for a “scientific investigation/survey/excavation” of the mosque premises by the ASI. District and Sessions Judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha directed the ASI to “conduct ground penetrating radar survey just below the three domes of the building in question and conduct excavation, if required”.
Instructing that the survey proceedings be videographed, the judge said a report must be submitted to the court before August 4. The survey will exclude the ‘wuzukhana’ area which was sealed last year on the Supreme Court’s orders after Hindu litigants pointed to the presence of what they claimed is a Shivling while Muslim litigants maintaining it is a fountain.
The Hindu litigants contend that the mosque was built on the site of the original Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The Muslim litigants say the mosque was built on Waqf premises, and that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, barred changing the character of any place of worship that existed before August 15, 1947.
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