The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, has moved an application before the Varanasi district judge claiming that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is not using the GPR technique to conduct the survey and the agency is digging the premises which is against the court’s directions.
The mosque committee’s application came days after the ASI filed an application in the Varanasi district court seeking further eight weeks’ time to complete its survey of the mosque.
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“The ASI is defying the orders of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court which have particularly asked the agency to conduct a scientific survey of the mosque premises using scientific and GPR method. In its application, the ASI has proposed to do the survey after removing the debris/garbage etc. ASI has not been authorised to conduct survey after cleaning any debris or garbage,” the mosque committee’s application reads.
It further said that the ASI has removed two trucks of soil from the storeroom of the mosque which was later collected on the open land on the western side of the mosque.
“....collecting the debris by bringing it to another place is a threat to the building of the mosque and it may collapse due to this,” the mosque committee’s application said and urged the court to not grant any further extension of time to the ASI.
The ASI is conducting a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, since August 4, on the orders of the Varansi district court given on July 21, 2023. The aim is to determine if the mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The survey will take place in the entire premises of the mosque except ‘wuzukhana’.
The orders were given taking on record an undertaking made on behalf of the ASI that no excavation would be done at the site and no damage would be caused to the structure.
