Plea seeking excavation at Gyanvapi mosque complex rejected by court

The Hindu petitioner in the Gyanvapi mosque case, who wanted the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a second examination of the mosque complex, had his plea denied by a Varanasi fast-track court on Friday, according to The Times of India.

The plaintiff, advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi, has asked the archaeological agency to utilise invasive excavation procedures to uncover the alleged ruins of an ancient Hindu temple beneath the mosque's central dome.

After an Archaeological Survey of India assessment claimed that a Hindu temple that was located at the location was demolished and replaced in the 17th century, the Varanasi district court on January 31 permitted Hindus to pray in the complex's basement. An oval-shaped object discovered on the mosque grounds in May 2022 has been described by the Hindu litigants as a shivling, a depiction of the Hindu deity Shiva. The mosque's caretaker committee, however, has insisted that the item was a fountainhead that had been removed from the wazu khana, or ablution tank.

The fast-track court on Friday also took into consideration Rastogi's motion, which asked the archaeological organisation to look into the so-called shivling in order to ascertain its “age, size, monumental and archaeological design or style…and what materials have been used for building the same”, Scroll.in reported.

However, the court cited earlier rulings from the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court that prohibited excavation at the location.

“The Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court also ordered to conduct the survey by using non-invasive methodology and not to use excavation technique and no destruction of the property will be done,” observed Civil Judge Yugal Sharma. “Apart from this, no reasons for further survey are cited by plaintiffs in their application.”

Sharma further noted that an order from the Supreme Court has preserved the so-called shivling and that the Archaeological Survey of India's report on the subject has not yet been legally examined.

The Varanasi district court's ruling permitting Hindus to pray in the mosque complex's sealed basement was upheld by the Supreme Court in May.

Additionally, it stipulated that Muslims should pray on the northern side of the mosque complex, while Hindus should come from the south and pray in the cellar. It is anticipated that this agreement will last until the case is decided.

The Supreme Court's ruling was in response to a plea filed by the mosque complex's management committee contesting the Allahabad High Court's December ruling about the maintainability of lawsuits aiming to restore a Hindu temple on the property.

The Places of Worship Act, which forbids altering a place of worship's religious identity in independent India, did not bar the suits, the High Court ruled.

In July 2023, a group of Hindu litigants petitioned the Varanasi district court for permission to hold prayers inside the mosque enclosure, and the court ordered an archaeological assessment of the site.

There are four cellars in the basement of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The priests who once resided there, the Vyas family, still own one of them. They had claimed the right to pray in that cellar since they were hereditary priests.