On Wednesday, a Varanasi district court ordered the ASI to make its report on the Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath Temple public.

Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath Temple: In the ongoing court case over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey report on the Gyanvapi complex has suggested that the “mosque was built on the remains of a pre-existing temple”. This was claimed by Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel for the Hindu side on Thursday. It is alleged that the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1669 after demolishing a Shiva temple.

While talking to the media, Vishnu Shankar Jain said that the copies of the survey report consisting of 839 pages were made available to the parties concerned by the court late Thursday evening adding that the survey report makes it clear that the mosque was built on the remains of a pre-existing temple by demolishing it in the past.

The survey report has sufficient evidence of the existence of a temple over which the mosque was built, claimed Jain.

A total of 11 people, including from both the Hindu and the Muslim sides, earlier in the day applied in the court to get the ASI survey report on the Gyanvapi complex adjoining the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

On Wednesday, a Varanasi district court ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to make its report on the Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath Temple public and share the hard copies of the report with both sides. Notably, a few weeks earlier, the Supreme Court approved an application by Hindu women petitioners seeking to clean the entire area of ‘wazukhana’ of the Gyanvapi mosque.

Following the Wednesday order, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain said, “Today, the court heard both sides and a consensus was reached that the hard copy of the ASI’s report will be provided to both sides. The ASI objected to providing the report via email. So, both sides agreed to get the hard copy of the report.

“The court listened to both sides today. After hearing both sides, an agreement was reached that a certified copy of ASI’s report be made available to both sides. As soon as the court passes the order, our legal team will apply for the certified copy.”

Earlier, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had said that the area of ‘wazukhana’ shall be cleaned under the supervision of district administration Varanasi, having regard to the previous orders of the top court.

The Gyanvapi mosque management committee said it supports the cleaning of the water tank, which has remained sealed on the apex court’s orders for nearly two years. The area of ‘wazukhana’ was sealed in 2022 on a Supreme Court order after the discovery of what was said to be a ‘Shivling’.

(With agencies’ inputs)