Gyanvapi Mosque: The Allahabad High Court postpones the ASI survey till tomorrow’s hearing

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid has been postponed till tomorrow by the Allahabad High Court. The hearing will now take place tomorrow at 3:30. The ASI official has been told to show up in court tomorrow.

“ASI officers appeared in court and presented an affidavit stating that no digging or cutting would take place during the survey. The court granted time till tomorrow since the Muslim side said they needed more time to review the document, according to attorney Saurabh Tiwary who is defending Hindu petitioner Rakhi Singh.

A Varanasi District Court granted permission for an Archaeological assessment of India (ASI) team to start the assessment of the Gyanvapi mosque grounds last week on July 21. The aforementioned ruling was made in response to a request made by four Hindu women worshippers who are parties to a lawsuit filed before the District Court and who sought year-round access to perform their religious duties within Mosque grounds.

But Monday, the Anjuman Mosque Committee filed a petition with the high court to challenge the Varanasi court’s directive for the ASI to examine the mosque’s grounds. The Supreme Court therefore decided to postpone the ASI assessment until July 26, 5 PM in order to give the Masjid committee some “breathing time” before approaching the high court. “We think that there should be some breathing room. The contested order won’t go into effect until 5 p.m. on July 26. The top court had said that should the petitioners approach the HC in the meantime, the RG of the HC should make sure that it is presented to the proper bench before the status quo order expires.

“Stronger doubts”
The court expressed its “strong doubts” about the work to be done by the ASI at the mosque complex after hearing the Anjuman Mosque Committee’s request. Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker made the oral remark when the ASGI, speaking on behalf of the ASI, was unable to provide further information about the survey’s methodology.

The management group anticipated that during the ASI assessment, the ancient building would collapse. The mosque committee’s argument that the Hindu side’s attorney would be liable if the construction collapsed received a strong response from the court.

The mosque committee responded to the Hindu side’s promises that no survey would be undertaken in the area sealed by Supreme Court order by claiming that region would also suffer harm if the survey was carried out.

While stopping the ASI assessment on the mosque grounds to determine if it was constructed atop a temple, the top court on July 26 made it clear that it was resurrecting a Gyanvapi panel petition that was mistakenly dismissed on July 24.

It is hoped that the study would reveal “whether the present structure was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.”