Court orders to seal Gyanvapi mosque after Hindu lawyers claim to find 'shivling'

The court-mandated three-day videography survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex in Varanasi finished a day before the next hearing of the case as the lawyer representing the Hindu women claimed that a shivalinga was found in the pond inside the mosque premises. The Varanasi civil court has issued an order to seal the area and directed the Varanasi District Magistrate to ensure that nobody is allowed to enter the area.

The Varanasi DM had earlier said that no details of the survey of Gyanvapi mosque were disclosed by any member of the commission.

Lawyer Vishnu Jain told Aaj Tak/India Today TV over the phone, that a shivling was found inside the well and he would go to civil court to seek its protection.

Till Sunday, around 65 per cent of the survey was completed.

Gyanvapi Mosque, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, is currently facing a legal battle. A court in Varanasi has directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to probe the structure of the Gyanvapi Masjid.

Five Hindu women have appealed to the court a year-long access to pray at the shrine behind the mosque.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is also likely to hear the Anjuman Intazamia Masjid Committe's appeal against the Varanasi Court's order directing a survey of Gyanvapi mosque.

The Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid management committee of the Gyanvapi mosque has petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the survey. A two-member bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud will hear the matter on Tuesday. The petition states that the Allahabad High Court had already stayed the original suit filed in 1991 but another petition was filed in 2021 just to bypass it. Both the 1991 and 2021 petitions are against the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 which a five-bench of the Supreme Court had also endorsed during the Ayodhya judgement.

A part of this survey took place on May 6 but was halted after a dispute broke out over filming inside the mosque. The mosque committee said the court had not ordered videography inside the mosque. The petitioners' lawyer, however, insisted that the court had given a go-ahead.

Hearing the matter last week, the local court had ordered videography can happen at all places asked for by the petitioners.

(With inputs from India Today)