Allahabad High Court asks mosque committee to respond to plea by Hindu party for ASI survey of Gyanvapi Mosque wuzukhana

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Anjuman Intezamia Mosque Committee (Muslim side) and sought its response to a plea filed by the Hindu side seeking an ASI survey of the wuzukhana region within the Gyanvapi Mosque premises at Varanasi..A bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal issued notice today on a revision plea filed by Rakhi Singh, who is the first plaintiff in the Shringar Gauri suit of 2022 (seeking rights to worship Shrinagar Gauri on the Gyanvapi Mosque's premises), which is currently being heard by a Varanasi court..Rakhi Singh has urged the High Court to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the Gyanvapi mosque's ablution pond (wuzukhana), except for the area where a Shivalinga is said to be located, to determine the religious nature of the property in question (the Gyanvapi compound)..By her revision plea, Rakhi Singh has challenged the correctness of a decision from a Varanasi district court which, in October 2023, had refused to direct the ASI to conduct such a survey..In the 2023 order, Judge AK Vishwesha had noted that the Supreme Court, on May 17, 2022, had mandated the proper protection of the area where the 'Shiva Linga' is believed to have been discovered. Therefore, the Varanasi court reasoned that directing the ASI to conduct a survey of the area would be inappropriate, as it would contravene the directive issued by the Supreme Court..The district judge also noted that the wuzukhana had been explicitly excluded from the scope of the ASI survey in an earlier district court order dated July 21, 2023, which was issued in connection with the 2022 suit by the Hindu side for worship rights within the mosque compound.In her revision plea, Rakhi Singh emphasized that a survey of the wuzukhana area was necessary and that it would benefit both the plaintiffs (Hindu side) and the defendants (Muslim side). She argued that such a survey would assist the court in arriving at a fair decision in the 2022 suit..It was further contended that the district judge had made an error in his October 2023 order by claiming that the July 21, 2023 order intentionally excluded wuzukhana area from a survey. The application leading to the October 2023 order did not include a request for a survey of this protected area, Rakhi Singh submitted..Notably, the ASI has already conducted a comprehensive scientific survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi. The ASI recently submitted a report to a Varanasi district court asserting that an ancient Hindu Temple existed at the site before the construction of the Gyanvapi Mosque..[Read Order]