Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) submitted its sealed scientific survey report on the Gyanvapi Mosque before the Varanasi District Court on Monday. The next hearing will be held on December 21 in the case.
ASI submitted the report before the Varanasi district Judge AK Vishvesha. Following the submission of the report, the Hindu worshippers requested the Court to make the report public and sought directions for the supplying of copies of the report to all parties involved in the case.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi survey case said, "The report cannot be filed in a sealed cover, the ASI has violated the Supreme Court order. We've filed our petition before the court that the copy of the ASI report should be made available in the public domain and this issue will be raised during the hearing on December 21".
Another advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is representing the Hindu petitioners, said, "The report in sealed cover was placed before the court by the ASI's standing counsel Amit Srivastava." Four senior officials of the ASI were also present in the court.
"The court has fixed December 21 to open the sealed report and submit its copies to the advocates of either side," Yadav said. The ASI carried out the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The survey was carried out on the order of a Varanasi court.
On December 11, the Varanasi district court granted one more week to the Archaeological Survey of India to submit a scientific survey report of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in the court. This comes after ASI asked for one week's time to file the survey report. The court fixed December 18 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
On the previous date, the court had given the ASI 10 days' time on November 30 and ordered it to file the report within the "provided time." The Court had earlier asked it to submit its survey report by November 17. Later, ASI was granted time until November 28 to file its report.
The survey has been held for 100 days, during which the ASI has asked for several extensions. The survey had concluded almost a month ago and the ASI had sought extra time to file its report.
The last extension was on November 18, when the ASI asked for another 15 days. The court had allowed it 10 days. The ASI had been conducting the survey since August 4 on the mosque premises. It leaves out the Wuzukhana area, which has been sealed by the orders of the Supreme Court.
