ASI conducts scientific survey of Gyanvapi mosque complex for 2nd day

Varanasi (UP): The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Saturday resumed its scientific survey work at the Gyanvapi mosque here to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.

Five members of the Muslim side also participated in the survey. Its advocate Tauheed Khan said advocates of the Intezamia Masjid Committee Akhlaq and Mumtaz accompanied the survey team. The Muslim side did not participate in the survey on Friday.

Government counsel Rajesh Mishra, who was with the ASI survey team during the day-long exercise a day before as well, on Saturday said the team started work in the morning and it would continue at 5 pm.

Lawyer for the Hindu side Sudhir Tripathi claimed, "Not idols, but fragments of idols have been found in the debris. We are quite hopeful that idols will also be recovered... The Intezamia Masjid Committee is cooperating... they gave the keys which they were not giving earlier." Another lawyer of the Hindu side Subhash Nandan told reporters that the ASI team is examining the central hall under the main dome.

Late on Friday night, joint secretary of the Intezamia Masjid Committee Muhammad Yasin said in a letter that they would cooperate in the survey work, honouring the orders of the Supreme Court.

"Keeping in mind the Supreme Court's orders refusing to stay the survey work, the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid has unanimously decided that while honouring the orders of the Supreme Court, it will cooperate with the ASI in the survey work," he said.

"It is hoped that the orders of the honourable court will be impartially complied with, and our mosque will not be damaged. Along with this, our religious rights will remain protected as per previous orders of the court," Yasin said, appealing to people to maintain peace.

A team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) is assisting the ASI in the survey work.

IIT-K Director Abhay Karandikar told PTI over the phone that a team from the institute's Earth Sciences department are in Varanasi and Professor Javed N Malik of the department will join soon after returning to the country.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order on the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, an exercise that the Muslim side says will "reopen wounds of the past".

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he hoped that the floodgates for a "thousand Babris" (Babri Masjid) will not be opened after the ASI reports are made public after the survey.

"#Gyanvapi ASI reports are made public, who knows how things will pan out. One hopes that neither 23rd December nor 6th December will repeat. The observation of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya judgement regarding the sanctity of the Places of Worship Act must not be dishonoured. The hope is that the floodgates for a thousand Babris will not be opened," he tweeted.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, asked the ASI not to carry out any invasive act during the survey.

This ruled out excavations, which the Varanasi court had said can be conducted if necessary.

The Supreme Court's nod on Friday came just hours after an ASI team had already resumed the detailed scientific survey ordered by the Varanasi district court on July 21.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee had challenged the district court's order in the Allahabad High Court, which dismissed its petition on Thursday. The Muslim body then quickly approached the Supreme Court.

On Friday, the Varanasi court also granted the ASI an additional month to complete the survey, extending its original deadline from Friday to September 4.