Gyanvapi survey: Varanasi court bans media coverage

Varanasi: Varanasi court on Wednesday ordered a ban on media coverage of the ongoing Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) survey of the Gyanvapi complex from the spot and also directed the surveyors to not make any comments to the media.

The survey of the mosque complex, which began on August 4, is being conducted to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a temple.

The district court Judge A K Vishvesh passed the media ban order on a plea by the Gyanvapi management committee.

Madan Mohan Yadav, the Hindu side's lawyer who was present in the court during the hearing, said, "The court advised that such reports on the issue that could lead to a breach of peace should not be put on social media."

In July, the Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The order was upheld by the Allahabad High Court.

Syed Mohammad Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid that manages the mosque, claimed that no statement has been given so far by the survey team or any of its officials, but newspapers and news channels and on social media misleading news is being run continuously.

Yasin said that this will have a "wrong effect" on the people's minds and such news items should be stopped from being published.

"We gave an application in the court of District Judge A K Vishvesh on Tuesday, which is expected to be heard on Wednesday," he said earlier in the day.

Amid the ongoing survey at the mosque complex, Yasin on Sunday said that baseless things were being spread, and if they were not stopped, then the Muslim side could boycott the survey.

Yasin also alleged that during the survey on Saturday, a section of the media spread rumours that idols, tridents, and urns were found in the basement of the mosque, hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.

With inputs from PTI