Gyanvapi case: Court to hear plea seeking preservation of evidences on Sept 21
Four women plaintiffs in Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case had filed the application last week, urging the court to pass an order to preserve all the evidence found in Gyanvapi in the ‘malkhana’ (store house)
VARANASI The district court in Varanasi on Wednesday fixed September 21 as the next date of hearing on four Hindu women’s plea seeking an order for preservation of evidences found during the court-mandated survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in May 2022 and those found during the ongoing survey of the mosque by the ASI.
Counsel for plaintiffs number 2 to 5 in Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi said hearing on their application could not take place due to the ongoing strike of lawyers and the district court fixed September 21 as the next date of hearing.
Advocates Chaturvedi and Vishnu Shankar Jain had last week filed the plea on behalf of the four women plaintiffs, urging the court to pass an order to preserve all the evidence found in Gyanvapi in the ‘malkhana’ (store house).
On September 11, the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (AIMC), which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, filed an objection against the plea in the district court.
Counsel for the AIMC filed the objection against the plea. The committee said, “The plaintiffs (number 2 to 5) have filed the application in court on the basis of baseless facts. No idol, article or artefacts were found during the court-mandated advocate commissioner’s survey proceedings conducted last year. The survey is being conducted by the ASI on Gyanvapi mosque premises.”
“Till now, the ASI has not submitted any report about what has been found during the survey. In such a situation, the so-called ancient articles mentioned by the plaintiffs in the application are their brainchild,” the added the AIMC.
The committee said the claim made by the plaintiffs was against the truth. Therefore, the application deserved to be rejected, it said.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been conducting a survey in the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, excluding its sealed section, since August 4. The survey was ordered to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
