Gyanvapi Mosque Case: Hindu petitioner files caveat in Allahabad HC over ASI survey order by Varanasi Court
Gyanvapi Mosque Case: Rakhi Singh, a petitioner from the Hindu side, filed a caveat petition in the Allahabad High Court on Monday following the Varanasi Court's direction to conduct a survey of the sealed area on the Gyanvapi mosque complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The caveat was filed through advocate Saurabh Tiwari via e-filing. Rakhi Singh, also the main petitioner in the Shringar Gauri Sthal case, supported the ASI survey at the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
In the caveat, Rakhi urged the Allahabad High Court not to pass any judgment without hearing the petitioner if the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee challenges the Varanasi court's order from July 21.
On Saturday, Rakhi Singh had filed a similar caveat in the case. However, on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Varanasi district court's order for the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, next to the Kashi Vishwanath temples, shall not be enforced until 5 pm on July 26. The Supreme Court granted this time to allow the mosque committee to approach the Allahabad High Court with its plea against the district court's order.
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The Gyanvapi mosque management committee, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, approached the Chief Justice of India, seeking a stay on the district court's order from July 21. Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi requested a stay on the ASI survey, stating that the top court had already stayed the carbon dating of the structure claimed as a "shivling" by the Hindu side, which was found in the mosque's ablution pond during a court-mandated survey in May 2022.
During the hearing, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, stated that it appears the ASI is not conducting any excavation as ordered by the district court, and no excavation is planned for a week.
On Friday, the Varanasi district judge AK Vishvesha ordered the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi complex based on an application moved by four Hindu women on May 16, 2023. However, the order excluded the ablution pond area, which had been sealed on the top court's order.
Earlier this year, on May 12, the Allahabad High Court had permitted the scientific survey of the purported "shivling," but the top court stayed this order on May 19. During the survey, a structure, claimed as a "Shivling" by the Hindu side and a "fountain" by the Muslim side, was found in the mosque premises on May 16 last year during the court-mandated survey of the mosque, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The High Court had set aside the Varanasi District judge's order, which had rejected the application for a scientific survey and carbon dating of the "Shivling" on October 14, 2022. The High Court directed the Varanasi District judge to proceed, in accordance with the law, on the application by the Hindu worshippers for conducting a scientific probe of the "Shivling." Petitioners Laxmi Devi and three others had challenged the lower court's order in the High Court.
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- With inputs from agencies
