New Delhi: A video graphic survey of and inspection of the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi is set to begin from 3 pm onwards on Friday. A team of court-appointed lawyers will begin the survey, though the situation is expected to intensify amidst the Gyanvapi mosque management committee’s announcement to oppose the decision of the local court.
“We will not allow anyone’s entry in the (Gyanvapi) mosque premises for videography and survey”, S M Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid Managing Committee, had said last week.
A Uttar Pradesh court last month had allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the disputed premises in Varanasi that is claimed by both the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque complex.
The court had directed the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government to bear the cost of the survey. The directive was given by Varanasi First Track Court judge Ashutosh Tiwari.
They have also asked the ASI to submit a report after the survey.
The order came on a petition filed by local lawyer Vijay Shankar Rastogi, who had demanded that the land entailing the Gyanvapi Mosque be restored to Hindus.
Rastogi said, “The court also stipulated that at least two members of the five-member team of eminent archaeologists should be from the minority community.”
In his plea, he has contended that the Gyanwapi Mosque in Varanasi is a part of Vishveshwar Temple.
