The Allahabad High Court on Thursday allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex (except the wuzukhana) in Varanasi as it dismissed the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee's challenge to the Varanasi District Court's July 21 order.
"The Varanasi Court is justified. Scientific survey is necessary in the interest of justice," the Allahabad High Court said.
Welcoming the verdict, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "I am confident that the truth will come out after the ASI survey and Gyanvapi issue will be resolved."
AIMPLB member Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali said the Muslim side would think about moving the Supreme Court to challenge the HC order.
"We are hopeful that justice will be done as this mosque is around 600 years old and Muslims have been offering namaz there for the last 600 years. We also want that the Places of Worship Act should be enforced at all places of worship in the country," ANI quoted Mahali as saying.
The Gyanvapi mosque is located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and Hindu litigants had in the Varanasi District Court sought an ASI survey to determine whether a temple existed at the same spot earlier.
The order paves the way for the ASI to continue its survey, which was halted on July 24 following an order of the Supreme Court. The SC halted the survey to allow the mosque committee time to appeal against the lower court's order.
On July 24, a 30-member ASI team entered the Gyanvapi complex to carry out the survey with the help of modern technologies, including radar mapping.
The complex was inspected and measured and the proceedings were recorded by cameras. The stones and bricks at the complex were also inspected.
During the hearing in Allahabad High Court, the Gyanvapi masjid committee said that the survey could damage the mosque. The counsel for the committee, senior advocate SFA Naqvi, requested the High Court to set aside the July 21 order of the Varanasi court, saying it had acted in urgency.
Advocate Naqvi also said that the survey order was passed at a very preliminary stage as the parties were not asked to produce their evidence.
Opposing the claim in the HC, advocate Vishnu Jain, representing the Hindu side, stated that the Solicitor General had already assured the Supreme Court on Monday that there would be no damage to the mosque, and no excavation would be conducted.
Jain also submitted that in the Ram Mandir case, a survey was conducted by the ASI and it was accepted by the High Court as well as the Supreme Court.
The Hindu side also claimed that a temple was constructed at the site in 1585 on the orders of Raja Todarmal but was demolished in 1669. Jain also submitted that sanskrit shlokas, old Jyotirlinga, Hindu artefacts were present inside Gyanvapi premises.