Amid Tight Security, ASI Survey Begins At Gyanvapi Premises; Muslim Side Boycotts

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday started a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi premises to determine if the mosque was built upon a temple.

It comes a day after the Allahabad High Court dismissed the plea filed by the Gyanvapi committee challenging a district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey on the Gyanvapi complex.

Amid tight security, the survey began at around 7 am. However, the Muslim side has boycotted it. On the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, an advocate representing the Hindu side on the Gyanvapi case, said, "All people (including ASI officials) have reached there. The survey has started. We are also going inside."

The members of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee have boycotted the survey. The representatives of the committee who were to accompany the ASI team for the survey abstained from doing so.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday gave the go-ahead for a scientific survey at Gyanvapi, dismissing a Muslim body's petition which had challenged a lower court order asking the ASI to perform the survey to determine if the 17th-century mosque was built over a temple, according to a report in PTI.

The court emphasized that there is every reason to trust the ASI's assurance that the survey will not harm the structure. It firmly stated that no excavation should take place on the mosque premises.

On July 21, the Varanasi district court directed the ASI to conduct a "detailed scientific survey" - including excavations, wherever necessary - to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple is built upon a temple.

According to Hindu activists, a temple existed earlier at the site and Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed it in the 17th century.