ASI asks court for 4 weeks more to make Gyanvapi Survey report public

According to the Hindu side’s attorney, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday asked a Varanasi court to not make public Gyanvapi mosque complex survey report for a minimum of four more weeks.

Judge A K Vishvesh of the Varanasi district court then adjourned the case until Thursday, according to Madan Mohan Yadav, the attorney for the Hindu side.

The attorney stated that before the sealed survey report was opened, the ASI asked the court to grant them an additional four weeks. On December 18, the ASI delivered its survey report in a sealed cover to the district court. The petitioners claimed the 17th-century mosque was built over an ancient temple, so the court ordered the survey.

To ascertain whether the mosque was built over an earlier Hindu temple structure, the ASI conducted a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi grounds, which are close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The district court gave the order to conduct the survey. The court noted in its July 21 ruling that a survey of the western wall, the cellars, and the space beneath the mosque’s domes was necessary. It stated that in order to ascertain the building’s age and nature, the ASI should also inspect the pillars and plinth. The ASI was asked by the court to make sure that the building that was standing on the disputed land should remain undamaged.

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