NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed that the Varanasi district court order on conducting a scientific survey of Gyanvapi mosque shall not be enforced until 5 pm on July 26.
On Monday morning, a 30-member team of the ASI had entered the mosque complex to carry out the scientific survey in accordance with court orders to determine if the mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple was built upon a temple.
Meanwhile, a plea was moved by the mosque committee today.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of submissions made by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared in the court on behalf of the mosque committee. Urging the court to stay the Varanasi district court’s July 21 order, Ahmadi said that the trial court did not even give them “breathing time” to file an appeal against the Varanasi court’s order.
Expressing an apprehension regarding ‘a possible excavation’ being carried out, Ahmadi also said that the district court’s order, according to them, was in the teeth of the top court’s May ruling of directing to defer the scientific survey of “shivling” in the complex.
Questioning the haste for carrying out the survey, he asked, “What is the hot haste? This property is being used as a mosque since 1500. What is the tearing hurry?”
Opining that “breathing time should be granted to the Muslim side”, the bench asked the mosque committee to approach the Allahabad High Court and directed the Registrar General of the HC to ensure the listing of the plea.
“We permit the petitioners to move the HC to challenge the order of District Judge Varanasi. Having regards to the fact that the order was pronounced at 4:30 pm on Friday (July 21) and the survey is in the process of being carried out today, we are of the view that some breathing time should be granted. Order of the district court should not be imposed until 5 PM till July 26, 2023,” the bench said in its order.
The top court also ordered that no invasive work would be undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple.
The Supreme Court asked Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Uttar Pradesh government, to inform the ASI team that there should not be any “invasive work” or excavation at the site.
Initially, when the matter was taken up around 10:45 am, the bench on being informed about the possible excavation of the premise had asked the SG to take instructions from the ASI till 11:15 am.
When the matter was again taken up by the bench, the SG informed the bench that the ASI was not contemplating any excavation but was only carrying out measurements, photography & radar imaging.
Although the court initially turned down the Muslim side’s request to stay the district court’s order, it on constant persuasion stayed the same.
The mosque’s “wazookhana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex.
District Judge A K Vishvesh has directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with video clips and photographs of the survey proceedings.
