Snehal Upadhyay-
Published on: September 10, 2021, at 09:52 IST
Allahabad High Court has put a stay on a survey determining whether Gyanvapi Mosque, located next to the famous Kashi Vishwanath shrine was made on the ruins of an older temple. This project was ordered to be taken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) by a Varanasi Court in April.
A Single Bench of Justice Prakash Padia stayed on all the proceedings related to this matter.
The Varanasi Court directed the ASI to conduct a physical survey on the Gyanvapi Mosque based on a 2019 plea filed by a lawyer. This plea was attached with a 1991 case in which several residents of the area stated that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb demolished a Lord Vishweshwar Temple in order to construct a mosque with the help of the demolished temple’s ruins.
Earlier, in March 2021, the 1991 case reached the Allahabad High Court, the Court reserved its order on this case even though proceedings in the Varanasi Court was not yet stopped.
“The court below has full knowledge of the fact that judgment has already been reserved on 15.03.2021. In this view… (it) should not have proceeded and decided on the application filed by the plaintiffs in the original suit for a survey by Archaeological Survey of India,” the Allahabad High Court stated.
The Court also expressed its regression as the Lower Court departed away from the “traditional way”.
“I have said so with the fond hope that judicial enthusiasm should not obliterate the profound responsibility that is expected from the court below,” the Court remarked.
The Varanasi Court in April directed to constitute “A five-member committee of eminent persons who are experts and well-versed in the science of archaeology, two out of which should preferably belong to the minority community. The prime purpose of the archaeological survey shall be to find out whether the religious structure standing at present at the ‘disputed site’ is a superimposition, alteration or addition or there is a structural overlapping of any kind, with or over, any other religious structure.”
The Waqf Board and the Gyanvapi Mosque Trust reached the Allahabad High Court alleging the order.
“The status of Gyanvapi Masjid is, as such, beyond question,” the authorities had said.
They further said that the Varanasi Court’s order was dubious.
“No evidence has been produced before the court that suggests that there was a prior existing temple at the site of the mosque,” they said.
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