ASI had carried out a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises to determine whether the structure was constructed over a pre-existing Hindu temple.

Gyanvapi Mosque Survey: A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi Saturday fixed January 24 as the date on which it will give a judgement the sealed ASI report on the Gyanvapi mosque complex survey should be made public and copies provided to concerned parties.

An order to this effect was passed by District Judge A K Vishvesh, said Madan Mohan Yadav, counsel for the Hindu side.

A Varanasi court on Saturday said it will decide the issue after the hearing in the matter before the Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court takes place. The Fast Track Court is scheduled to take up the matter on January 19.

The counsel of the Hindu and Muslim sides and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) were present in the court.

On Friday, the court has said since the order on the issue has not been typed out yet, it will be given on Saturday.

ASI urges court not to make report public

The ASI had on Wednesday urged the court not to make its report public for at least four more weeks, citing the December 19 judgment of the Allahabad High Court

ASI counsel Amit Shrivastava had told the district court that the high court had said in its order that, if necessary, the Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court can order a survey of the Gyanvapi complex once again.

Therefore, if the survey report comes into the public domain now, a situation of contradiction may arise. Therefore, four weeks should be given to open the survey report and make it available to the parties, the counsel had said.

On December 19 last year, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed several pleas from the Muslim side challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking restoration of a temple where the Gyanvapi mosque now stands in Varanasi.

“The trial in this case of vital national importance should be concluded as soon as possible, preferably within six months. If required, the lower court may direct ASI for a further survey,” the high court had observed.

Gyanvapi ASI survey

Last year, following a July 21 order of the district court, the ASI carried out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, to determine whether the mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.

The survey was ordered by the court after the petitioners claimed the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing temple.

The ASI had submitted its survey report to the district court in a sealed cover on December 18.

During the hearing in the district court on Wednesday, the Hindu side referred to its application to the Supreme Court seeking permission to clean the mosque ‘wazu khana’ (used by people for ritual ablutions before offering namaz) as several fish have died there.

The Muslim side objected to this, saying the ‘wazu khana’ is their property and they should be given the responsibility to clean it.

The Hindu side told the district court that the ‘wazu khana’ was sealed on the orders of the Supreme Court. The Hindu side also said that it should be cleaned either by them or the administration.

The matter is also likely to be taken up by the district judge court on January 24, Yadav said.

(With inputs from agencies)