Seal Area Where Shivling Found In Gyanvapi Mosque: Varanasi Court
Mumbai: An hour after the survey of the disputed Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi ended on Monday, May 16, a Varanasi court ordered the District Magistrate (DM) to seal the area and bar any person from entering.
A three-day videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi ended on Monday, a day before the next hearing of the case in the court. The court had ordered the survey.
The court said that the responsibility for the security of the sealed area will rest with the DM, Police Commissioner, Police Commissionerate and CRPF Commandant Varanasi. It has been said in the order of the court that it is the responsibility of the Lucknow Police Chief and the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that the order is followed.
“The survey by the court commission has concluded. We have found conclusive evidence,” the petitioner, Sohan Lal Arya, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Speaking to the media, Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma had earlier not confirmed reports that a Shivling was found on the mosque premises.
“The details of the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque were not disclosed by any of the members of the commission. The court is the custodian of information about the survey. One member was debarred from the commission for about a few minutes yesterday, later admitted to the commission,” Sharma had said.
Three domes, an underground cellar and a pond were filmed by the survey team. They will share their findings with the court on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear the appeal of a Muslim side against the Allahabad High Court order allowing videography inside the mosque. The file related to the case is to be presented during the hearing on May 17.
WHAT IS THE CASE?
The location of Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh is adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It is believed that it was built after the demolition of an existing Vishweshwara temple in the seventeenth century.
Some believe that the original Shivling of the then Vishweshwar temple was hidden in the nearby Gyanvapi well during raids by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
The court, in April this year, ordered a video inspection of the site after five women of the right-wing group Vishwa Vaidik Sanatan Sangh filed a petition saying they were entitled to have daily darshan, pooja, and perform rituals at the site of Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman, and other “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex.”
However, the survey could not take place as the Masjid Committee opposed the videography inside the mosque, accusing Advocates Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra of bias and seeking his replacement.
The Varanasi court on Thursday, 12 May, ordered that the survey work will continue, and instead of replacing Mishra, appointed two more lawyers – Vishal Kumar Singh and Ajay Singh – to accompany him. The survey work had begun on Saturday.
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