The District Court in Varanasi gave its approval to conduct an archaeological survey in the case of Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the adjacent Gyanvapi Masjid.
The Judge Ashutosh Tiwari, of the fast track Court in Varanasi gave this decision.
Vijay Shankar Rastogi filed a petition on 10 December 2019 on behalf of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar in the court of civil judge. The petitioner requested for a survey of the entire Gyanvapi compound by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The court ordered that the centre and the state governments will bear the expenses of this survey together. With this, the report of the survey will be presented in the court. The survey will be conducted by the director of ASI.
The team to be formed under his leadership will consist of 5 learned men. Two members of the minority community will also be included in this team. A person from the field of science and technology will be the observer of this survey work, which will be related to a Central University. A 5-member committee of the ASI will submit its report to this Observer daily.
The court said that the survey will be done daily from 9 am to 5 pm. This survey will be done with the help of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology and Geo Radiology System. The entire survey will be videographed, colour and black/white photography will also have to be done. Neither side will pressurize the committee of ASI, clarified the Judge.
The Judge also said in the order that during the survey, the administration will have to take care that the citizens of the Muslim community should not be stopped from offering Namaz. The court stated in its order that the media will not be allowed to be present during the survey nor will any member of the committee interact with the media. The court said that after the survey is over, the full report will have to be presented in the sealed cover envelope in the court.
This is the second such case in the country after Ayodhya in which the order of archaeological survey has been given to decide the land of the temple-mosque. It is said that the Gyanvapi Mosque (Gyanvapi Mosque) was built by Aurangzeb and it was built by breaking the temple.
In 1991, Pandit Somnath, a party of Jyotirlinga Lord Vishwanath, had filed a lawsuit, saying that the mosque is a part of the Vishwanath temple and Hindus should have the right to have darshan, pujapath as well as repair. He claimed that the Shivaling of Baba Vishwanath (Kashi Vishwanath Temple) is still installed in the disputed premises.