In this Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023 file photo, Members of the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) team conduct a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi mosque complex, in Varanasi. (PTI)
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“The ASI has said there existed a large Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure,” advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi dispute, said on Thursday night. A brief timeline of the case so far:
May 16, 2022: Videographic survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque completed by a commission appointed by a local court. During the survey proceedings, a structure, which the Hindu side claimed was a “shivling”, and the Muslim side claimed was a “fountain”, found to be inside the mosque premises.
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July 21, 2023: Scientific survey of Gyanvapi mosque complex ordered by Varanasi district court to ascertain whether the mosque was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”. This time, District and Sessions Judge A K Vishvesha directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to “undertake scientific investigation/survey/excavation at the property in question, that is, settlement plot number 9130 (Gyanvapi mosque)”.
August 4, 2023: Survey by the ASI amid tight security arrangements resumed after the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court allowed it, dismissing pleas filed jointly by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee for Gyanvapi mosque and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board. The ASI teams have been surveying the campus since.
December 11, 2023: Varanasi district court granted one more week to the ASI to submit the findings of the court-ordered scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises.
January 25, 2024: ASI report handed over to the Hindu and Muslim sides.
Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express.
During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state.
During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.
Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor.
Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More
