Court team returns empty-handed

VARANASI: A court commissioner’s team on Saturday visited the GyanvapiShringar Gauri temple complex here and stayed there for over two hours but failed to conduct a videographic-survey of the mosque due to protest by Muslim men.

The Muslims protested against the survey even as the mosque management committee moved a Varanasi district court seeking the appointment of a different court commissioner, other than the present one, Ajay Kumar Mishra.

After hearing the plea in the morning to change the court commissioner, Varanasi’s Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar reserved his order for May 9.

Court-appointed commissioner Mishra along with lawyers representing both the Hindu and Muslim sides went inside the GyanvapiShringar Gauri temple complex. But, after spending nearly two hours inside the complex, they came out without accomplishing the task.

Vishnu Jain, a lawyer from the Hindu side who had gone inside the complex with the surveyor told reporters Muslim men present in the mosque did not allow the team to enter the mosque area for its videography and survey as per the court’s order.

He alleged the district administration did not help either the survey team do its job.

Jain said they would tell the court on May 9 about the matter and would ask for specific order to carry out the videography and survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.

Earlier, the police arrested a Muslim man raising religious slogans when the survey team was entering the mosque-temple complex and whisked him to a police station.

‘BJP-RSS bringing era of hatred like 1990s’ HYDERABAD: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said the BJP and RSS are trying to rekindle the era of hatred as the one in the 1990s. Addressing a gathering in Hydearbad, Owaisi said, “The Govt of India and the UP govt should have told the court Parliament passed The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. It stated no religious place, as it existed on August 15 1947, will be disturbed. They should have told the court. The Centre knows when the Babri judgment came, it linked the 1991 Act to the basic structure of the Constitution. It was the constitutional duty of the govt to tell the court what they were doing is wrong. But since they do politics of hatred, they stayed silent. BJP should say if they accept Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. It is BJP and Sangh that are focussing on this matter. They are trying to rekindle the era of hatred as the one in the 1990s,” he added.