Gyanvapi Mosque dispute: Plea seeks ASI survey of Wazukhana area

In the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute, one of the Hindu petitioners has filed a fresh application in the district court of Varanasi seeking for a direction to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake a survey of the Wazukhana area of the mosque (except for the Shiva Linga) without causing any damage to the structure.
Suraj Singh, the secretary of the World Vedic Sanatan Sangh (WVSS), stated that the court has set a date of September 8 for the hearing of the case.
The ‘wazukhana’ area was sealed after the Supreme Court passed an interim order in May 2022 directing the District Magistrate of Varanasi to ensure the protection of the area where the structure, which Hindu side has claimed, is a ‘shivling’, was found during a video survey.
Rakhi Singh, one of the main petitioners in the Gyanvapi case, has filed a new 64-page application in the court of Justice Alok Kumar of the district court. Apart from others, the Archaeological Survey of India has also been made a respondent in the case.
Through the petition, Rakhi Singh has demanded that an ASI survey be conducted for Wazukhana, excluding the ‘Shivalinga,’ in order to reveal the truth of the entire Gyanvapi premises. The application was filed through her lawyers Man Bahadur Singh, Saurabh Tiwari, and Anupam Dwivedi.
The Hindu side claims that the structure is a “Shivalinga,” while the Muslim side claims it to be a “fountain” which was discovered in Wazukhana during the court-ordered survey of the mosque located adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple on May 16 last year.
Previously, five Hindu women filed a case seeking permission to perform regular worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi Mosque premises.