The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which takes care of the Gyanvapi mosque moved the Allahabad High Court challenging a Varanasi court order allowing the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a scientific survey of the mosque premises.
The committee approached the High Court a day after the Supreme Court stayed the Varanasi court order till July 26 and directed the petitioners to approach the High Court The Supreme Court order had come hours after a 30-member team of the Archaeological Survey started the survey of mosque premises at 7 am on Monday. The Varanasi court had allowed the survey on Friday in response to a petition by a group of Hindu litigants seeking the right to hold prayers inside the mosque compound.
District judge AK Vishvesha had ordered the survey, including excavation if necessary, to determine if the mosque was built on a temple as the Hindu petitioners have claimed. Muslims should not be restricted from offering prayers during the survey and no damage should be done to the mosque, the court had told the authorities.
The Allahabad High Court had held in May that a scientific survey could be done of an oval-shaped object found in the mosque premises.
The oval-shaped object was found in May last year during a survey of the mosque premises ordered by a Varanasi civil court. The Hindu litigants in the case claimed that the object was a shivling – a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. However, the caretaker committee of the mosque claimed the object was a defunct fountainhead in the wazu khana, or ablution tank