Amid Tight Vigil, 52-Member Team Enters Varanasi's Gyanvapi Masjid; All Underground Cellars Surveyed

The videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex in Varanasi completed on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, officials said. The mosque management committee has indicated that it will cooperate for now with the team assigned the task by a local court.

According to the latest reports, all the three underground cellars have been surveyed. A total of 52 people including survey team members from both sides, petitioners, respondents and officers from administration have entered the site. The survey will resume on Sunday.

The officials said the movement of people has been stopped at a distance of 500 metres from the Gyanvapi complex. Police have also stopped vehicular movement coming from Godaulia and Maidagin areas of the city.

An important meeting was held with all parties concerned on Friday, Sharma had said earlier, and added that an appeal was made to them to cooperate in the commission’s work and the maintenance of law and order.

The administration has asked the mosque management committee to hand over the keys of underground cellars.

The mosque management had said there are locks preventing access to the two basements. The court made it clear that in case the keys are not available, the locks should be broken to get the survey done. The court has also directed the district magistrate and the police commissioner to monitor the exercise and lodge an FIR if anyone created hurdles in the survey, according to Yadav.

The videography survey resumed after the Court on Friday declined to immediately stop the survey of Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and said that the matter would have to be considered in due course. The apex court agreed to consider listing the plea of a Muslim party against the survey of the Gyanvapi premises.

The district court has appointed two more lawyers to help the advocate commissioner carry out the survey at the mosque, which is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple. It ordered the police to register FIRs if there are attempts to scuttle the exercise. The local court’s May 12 order came on a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the mosque.

The survey was stalled last week amid objections by the mosque committee, which claimed that the advocate commissioner did not have the mandate to film inside the premises. The committee accused him of bias and filed a plea for his replacement. Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is appearing for the Hindu side, said the three court-appointed advocate commissioners, five lawyers each from the two sides and an assistant besides a videography team will carry out the survey.

People attended Friday prayers amid tight security outside the mosque. In its order Thursday, the district court said locks should be broken if the keys are not available to access certain areas of the complex for the survey.

Meanwhile, two applications were filed in a Mathura court seeking appointment of an advocate commissioner to carry out an inspection of the Shahi Idgah Mosqe adjoining Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi to confirm the existence of Hindu artefacts and ancient religious inscriptions on the mosque premises.

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