On Wednesday (9 August), the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed a fresh application before the Court of District Judge to ‘immediately stop‘ the ongoing ASI Survey of the Gyanvapi premises. Notably, it is the same committee that manages the disputed mosque at the Gyanvapi site in Varanasi.
GYANVAPI | Anjuman Mosque Committee has moved a fresh application before the #VaranasiCourt to immediately STOP the ongoing #ASISurvey of the #GyanvapiMosque premises.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 9, 2023
The application says that the plaintiffs in the suit have not filed expenses of the commission. pic.twitter.com/3W1aVnNkIw
In its application, the committee has stated that the Varanasi Court’s order dated 21 July for the ASI Survey was given in the suit filed by 4 plaintiffs to worship Shringar Gauri at the disputed site. The committee has claimed that the plaintiffs failed to deposit the money to bear the expenses incurred during the ASI survey as per Rule 70 of the General Civil Rule. Subsequently, they sought directions from the court to immediately stop the ASI survey.
In their application, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee has further claimed that the authority has given no written or oral information about the survey and they haven’t fixed any time for the same. As per the application, the ASI has been conducting the survey without proper procedure and hence, it prays that the survey be stopped.
The Hindu side arguing in the case has to file their reply/objection to this application by the 17th of August.
Today (9 August), the ASI conducted a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises for the sixth consecutive day. The ASI has been conducting the survey as per the order of the Varanasi District Judge dated the 21st of July, after the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court rejected the masjid committee’s plea against the order. The ASI is entrusted to determine if the disputed structure claimed as a ‘Mosque’ was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
During the ongoing ASI Survey, the Hindu side has been claiming that the survey teams have recovered more symbols related to temple architecture than they have imagined. According to the claims of the Hindu side, the ASI team found artifacts like a 2 feet Trishul (trident), 5 Kalash, and 4 feet long fragmented idol among others on the 5th of August.
Media banned from covering Gyanvapi survey
Meanwhile, on the same day, 9 August, the Varanasi court passed an order banning the media from covering the ongoing ASI survey of the Gyanvapi premises from the spot. The court has also directed members of the survey team to not give comments to any media outlet.
District Judge A K Vishvesh’s court issued this ruling in response to the plea filed by the Gyanvapi management committee, seeking a ban on the media coverage of the ASI survey.
“The court has ordered the media to not report the event from the spot. The members of the survey team should also not give comments in the media. The court further advised that such reports on the issue that could lead to a breach of peace should not be put on social media”, said Madan Mohan Yadav, a lawyer of the Hindu side who was present during the hearing.
