GYANVAPI SURVEY TO COMMENCE AFTER SC REFUSAL TO STAY

After the highest court on Friday refused to stay the Gyanvapi Mosque survey ordered by a Varanasi Sessions Court, the court-appointed commissioner is set to resume survey of the mosque from Saturday, which the Hindus claim is built over a Hindu temple. The Sessions Court last April appointed the commissioner to conduct a survey of the property and submit its report on May 10, after some Hindus approached the court seeking permission to perform worship and other rituals of Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities there within the old temple complex, part of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

The survey was ordered to inspect, conduct videography and collect evidence regarding the alleged existence of Hindu deities inside the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

However, as the survey was under progress, the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee that manages the Gyanvapi mosque sought an order for the status quo saying and the dispute reached the Supreme Court, which refused to stay the survey and dismissed the appeal.

The dispute has all the elements of the Ayodhya Temple-Mosque controversy, which was resolved by the Supreme Court in 2019, as the disputed site was handed over to Hindus to build a Ram Temple there. In a similar wane, in 1991, a bunch of petitioners moved the court contending the mosque was built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a temple in 1669. They sought the mosque to be removed and the land be given to the Hindus.