ASI team begins scientific survey of Gyanvapi mosque complex amid tight security | India News

NEW DELHI: A team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Monday to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple is built upon a temple.

A team of 30 ASI members, along with representatives from the Hindu and Muslim sides, are present inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The ASI team reached Varanasi on Sunday.

District judge A K Vishvesh on Friday directed the ASI to conduct a detailed scientific survey — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is built upon a temple.

The mosque’s ‘wazukhana’, where a structure claimed by 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.
The judge has directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with videos and photographs of survey proceedings.
Advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi representing the Hindu side said that the result of the survey will be favourable to Hindus. While speaking to reporters, Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, “We are sure that the whole premise is of temple only. The result of the survey will be favourable to us.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hearing today on a petition filed by the mosque management committee against the Varanasi court’s order for an ASI survey of the mosque complex.