New Delhi: A court-mandated videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex began for the third consecutive day in Varanasi on Monday amid tight security. This comes as around 65 per cent of the survey was completed till Sunday, news agency PTI reported. The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the local court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.
"The survey at the Gyanvapi Masjid complex has started," Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma and Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh told PTI.
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The Varanasi District Magistrate had said yesterday that the survey work on Monday will begin at 8 am and all the parties have been directed to remain present.
"About 65 per cent of the survey work has been completed. The survey will continue on Monday as well. This is completely an archaeological survey work, since the advocates were not familiar with the survey work, the work took some time," Madan Mohan Yadav, the counsel for the Hindu side in the case, had said on Sunday, as quoted by PTI.
The survey was stalled last week following objections by the mosque committee which claimed that the advocate commissioner appointed by the court for the survey did not have the mandate to film inside the premises.
In his order on Thursday last week, District Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar had turned down a plea by the mosque committee to replace Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was appointed advocate commissioner by the court to survey the Gyanvapi-Gauri Shringar complex.
The judge also appointed two more lawyers to help the court commissioner with the survey while direction for it to be completed by Tuesday.
The district court had stated that locks should be broken if the keys are not available to access certain areas of the complex for the survey. It also permitted district authorities to register FIRs if the survey was not allowed.
Last week on Friday, the Supreme Court refused to grant an interim order of status quo on the survey. However, the top court agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey.
Advocate Yadav had informed that the survey team included the three court-appointed advocate commissioners, five lawyers each from the two sides, and an assistant besides a videography team.
(With Agency Inputs)