Revision as of 05:40, 24 July 2021

The dispute

As in 2021 April

Gyanwapi mosque- Kashi Vishwanath temple- First petition filed in 1991 seeking nod to worship
From: Binay Singh, April 9, 2021: The Times of India

Uttar Pradesh: ASI probe ordered into Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanwapi mosque dispute

Binay Singh| TNN | Updated: Apr 8, 2021, 23:26 IST

The judge asked the Uttar Pradesh government to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India. (File Photo)

1991- 2020

In 1991, the first petition was filed in Varanasi civil seeking permission for worship in Gyanvapi. The petitioner had contended that Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built by Maharaja Vikramaditya about 2,050 years ago, but Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple in 1664 and used its remains to construct a mosque, which is known as Gyanvapi masjid, on a portion of the temple land.

In 1998, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee moved the high court contending the mandir-masjid dispute could not be adjudicated by a civil court as it was barred by law. The high court then stayed the proceedings in lower court . In February 2020, the petitioners approached the lower court again to resume hearing as the HC had not extended the stay in the preceding six month

Advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi, as the ‘next friend’ of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar, had filed an application in the court of civil judge in December 2019, requesting for survey of the entire Gyanvapi compound by the ASI. He also demanded the restoration of the land on which the mosque stood to the Hindus claiming that Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had pulled down parts of the old Kashi Vishwanath Temple to build it.

In January 2020, defendant Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed an objection against the petition.

The petitioner had requested the court to issue directions for removal of the mosque from temple land and give back its possession to the temple trust. The petition contended that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act was not applicable on the suit as the mosque was constructed over a partly demolished temple and many parts of the temple exist even today.

2021

VARANASI: A local court of civil judge on Thursday allowed a survey of entire Gyanvapi mosque complex, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, by the Archaeological Survey of India to find out 'whether the religious structure standing at the present and disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition, or there is structural overlapping of any kind.

In its order, the court of civil judge (senior division), fast track, Ashutosh Tiwai, directed the ASI director general to constitute a five-member committee of eminent persons who are experts and well-versed in the science of archaeology, two of which should preferably belong to the minority community.

The committee shall trace whether any temple belonging to the Hindu community ever existed before the mosque in question was built or superimposed or added upon it at the disputed site, the order said. In its order, the court also directed the DG to appoint an eminent and highly experienced person, who can be regarded as expert in the science of archaeology, to act as observer.

“Such person should preferably be a scholarly personality and established academician of any central university,” it said.

The five-member committee shall submit a report of its survey work to the observer on a daily basis.

The court further said the committee shall prepare comprehensive documentation along with the drawing, plan, elevation, site map with precise breadth and width of the disputed site, marked with hatched lines in the plaint map.

“The purpose of the archaeological survey shall be to find out as to whether the religious structure standing at the present and disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition or there is structural overlapping of any kind. If so, then what exactly is the age, size, monumental and architectural design or style of the religious structure, and what material has been used for building the same,” the court said.

For that purpose, the committee shall be entitled to enter into every portion of the religious structure, the order said.

The committee shall firstly resort to Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) or Geo-Radiology System or both to satisfy itself as to whether any excavation or extraction work is needed in any portion. The excavation should be done by trial trench method vertically on a very small scale, and horizontal excavation shall be done only when the committee is fully satisfied of being able to reach a more concrete conclusion regarding the archaeological remains below the ground.