ASI submits report of Gyanvapi mosque complex survey in Varanasi court

During the last hearing, on December 12, the ASI sought one week’s additional time to file the report citing that Superintending Archaeologist Avinash Mohanty had suffered a sudden increase in blood pressure. The court then allowed the additional time. It was the eighth time that the court had granted an extension to the ASI to file its survey report.

On July 21, the Varanasi court ordered a scientific survey of the complex to ascertain whether the mosque was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”. District and Sessions Judge AK Vishvesha directed the ASI to “undertake scientific investigation/survey/excavation at the property in question i.e. settlement plot number 9130 (Gyanvapi mosque)”. The survey was to exclude the wazukhana area, which was sealed on the Supreme Court’s order.

However, the survey was halted after the mosque committee approached the Allahabad High Court, and later the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the exercise. Both courts cleared the decks for the survey and it was resumed on August 4 amid security arrangements.

After the stipulated time got over, the ASI sought additional time from the court to complete the survey. In its application seeking more time, the ASI said, “In compliance with the said order, the ASI is conducting a scientific investigation/survey at the site. A team of archaeologists, archaeological chemists, epigraphists, surveyors, photographers, and other technical personnel have been engaged in scientific investigations and documentation.”

It also said that a team of experts from the Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, “is also conducting a GPR (ground-penetrating radar) survey and that acquired data is being analysed and studied”.

The application said that a lot of “trash/debris” was found in the cellars of the mosque “covering the original features of structure”. “Cleaning of this trash/debris etc above the working floor level is in progress to examine the structures scientifically. As the court has directed [the ASI] to conduct a survey beneath the ground of all the cellars, it is necessary that soil/debris dumped or accumulated there is removed without causing any damage to the standing structure,” read the application.

It further said, “The debris is being removed very carefully and systematically, which is a slow process and going to take some more time before the ground of all the cellars is cleared for the survey”.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which had earlier filed a plea to stop the survey of the mosque complex, objected to giving the ASI additional time. The caretaker of the mosque also said the ASI was defying orders of higher courts and posed a threat to the building by removing the soil beneath the ground and that it was not authorised to conduct the survey after cleaning debris.

In its response, the ASI said that it was following the orders of the high court and the Supreme Court and that all precautions were being taken during the survey to ensure there was no damage to the structure.

The court also directed the ASI that the orders of the high court and the Supreme Court be complied with during the survey.

In August, the Varanasi court directed the ASI and other stakeholders not to share information about the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex with anyone, particularly the media. Besides the ASI, the other stakeholders are both sides in the case, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee and the Hindu petitioners, their representatives and the government counsel.

In its order, the court said that if the media—print, electronic or social—still published “false” reports about the survey, action would be taken against them as per the law. The petitioner had sought directions to stop all media from publishing or broadcasting “baseless and false reporting” on the survey.

Last month, the ASI informed the court that it had completed a scientific survey at the site but that the preparation of a report of the ground-penetrating radar survey was underway, adding that it therefore needed more time to submit the survey report.