ASI survey of Gyanvapi begins under police vigil

A team of 41 officials from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday started a survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid premises, measuring the area and collecting soil samples, a day after the Allahabad high court greenlit the controversial exercise and said it would help both parties in the dispute.

The officials reached the complex at 7am and the work began at 7.45 am, pausing for 90 minutes in the afternoon when devotees offered Friday prayers on the premises, and ending at 5pm. It will begin again on Saturday at 8am, and continue till 5pm.

The ASI team -- comprising experts from Lucknow, Agra, Jhansi and Patna – used state-of-the-art equipment to measure the barricaded area, create a map, and collect soil samples. The area – which excludes a section where the Hindu side claims a Shivling was found during an earlier survey in 2022 and the Muslims say the structure is part of a fountain – was also photographed and videographed.

“The team is well equipped with scientific equipment required for the survey. Team members are expert archeologists. They are doing survey in scientific manner,” said Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, counsel for the Hindu plaintiffs in the case.

Advocate Sudhir Tripathi, who also represents Hindu plaintiffs Rekha Pathak, Sita Sahoo and Laxmi Devi, Manjoo Vyas , said the team surveyed pillars, walls and other parts of the barricaded areas of Gyanvapi.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the 17th century mosque, boycotted the survey in the morning, but in the evening, the panel said it will cooperate with the exercise. “Do not pay any attention to the rumors, keep ignoring the statements of the people, this is for the good of all. Let us hold fast to the mantra of peace, restraint and harmony,” said the committee’s joint secretary, SM Yasin.

The developments came after the Allahabad high court on Thursday cleared the decks for the survey, holding that scientific investigation was necessary in the interest of justice and would benefit both parties in a dispute that has simmered on for decades but snowballed over the past year.

In a 16-page order, high court chief justice Pritinker Diwaker dismissed the petition filed by the mosque committee, which had challenged a Varanasi court judgment that ordered on July 21 a survey by ASI to determine if the 17th century structure was built over a temple.

The high court – which started hearing the case on July 25 after the Supreme Court temporarily suspended the survey on July 24 — took on record ASI’s undertaking that the agency will not carry out any excavation or harm the existing structure. The court also asked the district court to expedite proceedings,

The district court is hearing a raft of petitions by Hindu groups and individuals who have demanded worshipping rights inside the mosque premises, claiming the presence of Hindu idols and deities within the complex that abuts the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

This is the second such controversial exercise to be carried out at the premises. Last year, on the final day of a similar survey ordered by a local court, Hindu groups claimed the discovery of a shivling, a structure the Muslim side said was part of a ritual ablution fountain. The area remains sealed under the orders of the apex court.

On Friday, the Supreme Court refused to halt the survey, observing that it cannot find fault with the Varanasi district court’s order, nor would it interfere with every interlocutory direction passed in the case.

During the survey, the team looked at the signs and symbols that the five Hindu plaintiffs say are deities. The women plaintiffs -- including Rekha Pathak, Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu -- their counsels Chaturvedi, Tripathi, and pleader Sohan Lal Arya participated in the survey.

Advocate Anupam Dwivedi participated in the survey on behalf of plaintiff number 1 Rakhi Singh.

“The survey started in the morning and went on till 5 pm. The survey by ASI in the Gyanvapi will make everything clear,” said Sahu. “We are very happy that the ASI survey has resumed. The survey will make everything clear,” said Rekha Pathak.

On Friday evening, Yasin said after the top court refused to stay the exercise, the mosque committee unanimously decided to respect the court’s decision and cooperate in the scientific survey.

“We hope that the guidelines of the honourable court will be followed in a fair manner and no harm will be done to our mosque. Also, our religious rights will be protected and stay safe,” he said.