Gyanvapi case: The Varanasi court has today (October 25) dismissed the petition of the Hindu side for an additional survey of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and excavation under the central dome.
Hindu side Advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi said, "This decision is against the rules and facts. I am upset with this and will go to the upper court and challenge it. According to the order of 8.4.2021, a 5-member committee was to be appointed to the ASI for the survey, in which one person would have been of the minority community and an expert from the central university. All of them had to conduct the ASI survey. The previous survey was done only by the ASI. The High Court had confirmed that the survey was not in compliance with that order (of 8.4.2021). We will go to the High Court on an immediate basis."
This case of Lord Visheshwar vs. Anjuman Intezamiya Masjid Committee has been going on since 1991. The Hindu side had sought permission to give the right to worship and build a temple within the Gyanvapi premises. The arguments from the Muslim side have been completed in the 1991 case concerning the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi. The two lawyers representing the Muslim side in this case- Anjuman Intezamiya Committee and the Waqf Board, presented their arguments following which the Hindu side submitted copies of several precedents from the High Court and Supreme Court before the court. Both the parties had previously put forth their views in the 33-year-old case.
The case was filed regarding the construction of a new temple in Gyanvapi and granting Hindus the right to worship. The case has been pending for 33 years, and today the lawyer for the Muslim side concluded their arguments.
The lawyer of the Hindu side, Vijay Shankar Rastogi, has said that before this order of the court in the case of Gyanvapi, the cross-examination of the lawyers from the Hindu side on the order of the Vadamitra to conduct a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been completed. On this, the Muslim side Anjuman Intezamia Committee had presented its arguments on October 8 itself.
