Gyanvapi Masjid Case: ASI Team Begins Survey In Varanasi, Muslim Side Plea Against Order In SC Likely To Be Heard Today

The ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) team, which will conduct survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex today, following the Varanasi district court's July 21 order, reached the Gyanvapi premises and have entered the premises for their survey. The team has to submit a report by August 4. Several people from the petitioner's side including lawyers representing the Hindu side were present when the team reached Gyanvapi premises. The 30-member team reached early morning and security was tightened around the mosque complex.

Sudhir Tripathi, advocate representing Hindu side, said, "Today the Gyanvapi survey will be conducted, it is a good thing for us...the survey will begin at 7 am, can't say how long it will go on."

Watch: Visuals from outside the Gyanvapi premises.

Sohan Lal Arya, a petitioner and husband of Laxmi Devi, one of the five women who have filed petition in the court on the basis of "right to worship at Gyanvapi" called the survey a "glorious moment."

ASI survey ordered by court

A Varanasi court on Friday ordered a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, according to government counsel Rajesh Mishra.

However, the barricaded ‘wazukhana’, where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a ‘shivling’ exists, will not be part of the survey. The court of A K Vishvesh upheld the petition of a group of Hindu devotees seeking a scientific survey to determine if the mosque was built at the site of a Hindu temple, reported PTI.

Muslim side moves SC

The Gyanvapi mosque management moved the Supreme Court against the Varanasi district court's order for an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the complex. The SC is likely to hear the case on Monday (July 24), today.