The court-mandated three-day videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex in Varanasi finished a day before the next hearing of the case, as the lawyer representing the Hindu women claimed that a shivalinga was found in the pond inside the mosque premises. The Varanasi district magistrate was directed by the Varanasi district magistrate to make sure that nobody is allowed to enter the area.
The Varanasi DM said that no details of the survey of Gyanvapi mosque were not disclosed by any member of the commission.
Around 65 per cent of the survey was completed by Sunday.
Gyanvapi Mosque, next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, is facing a legal battle. A court in Varanasi has directed the Archaeological Survey of India ASI to look at the structure of the Gyanvapi Masjid.
Five Hindu women have appealed to the court for a year-long access to pray at the shrine behind the mosque.
The Supreme Court is likely to hear the appeal by Anjuman Intazamia Masjid Committe against the Varanasi Court's order to conduct a survey of Gyanvapi mosque.
The management committee of Gyanvapi mosque has asked the Supreme Court to stop the survey, said Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid. A two-member bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud will hear the matter on Tuesday. The petition states that the Allahabad High Court had already stayed the original suit filed in 1991, but another petition was filed in 2021 to bypass it. The petitions of 1991 and 2021 are against the Places of Worship Special Provisions Act, 1991, which was endorsed by a five-bench of the Supreme Court during the Ayodhya judgement.
A part of the survey took place on May 6 but was stopped after a dispute broke out over filming inside the mosque. The mosque committee said the court had not ordered videography inside the mosque. The petitioners' lawyer, however, insisted that the court had given a go-ahead.
The local court ordered that videography can happen at all places that are asked for by the petitioners, after hearing about the matter last week.
With inputs from India Today