Gyanvapi mosque premises surveyed under tight security
All parties comply with court order, survey to be done on Sunday, too
VARANASI : The court-appointed advocate commissioner Ajai Kumar Mishra and his team surveyed over 50% of the Gyanvapi mosque premises from 8am to noon in Varanasi on Saturday amid elaborate security arrangements, officials said.
The survey that included videography and inspection of the Gyanvapi complex premises was done in the presence of all the parties in the case in which permission has been sought for daily worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal in the Kashi Vishwanath Gyanvapi complex.
The survey would start again at 8am on Sunday.
Advocate commissioner Ajai Kumar Mishra, special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh, assistant advocate commissioner Ajai Pratap Singh, advocates of the petitioners and advocates of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (that manages the Gyanvapi mosque), besides an official representing the Uttar Pradesh government and officials of Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Trust reached the Gyanvapi complex at 8am.
According to a person familiar with matter, the survey was conducted in the basement area of the Gyanvapi premises. The team carried a torch and camera for the photography.
Uttar Pradesh chief secretary DS Mishra and director general of police DS Chauhan monitored the proceedings of the survey.
Varanasi district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, “The civil court in Varanasi on Thursday delivered an order, according to which the court commission proceedings were to be conducted in and around the Gyanvapi mosque premises. According to the order of the court, the proceedings of the court commission was done from 8am to 12 noon in which all the parties, their advocates and their assistants were present. In this, Uttar Pradesh government, district magistrate Varanasi, police commissioner Varanasi, and Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust are also parties. Senior officers who are representatives of these four were also present during the survey. The speciality of today’s survey was that the survey was completed in a very peaceful manner. All parties complied with the order of the court.”
“In the survey which lasted
GYANVAPI for four consecutive hours, the survey of more than 50% of (mosque) premises has been completed. Since the proceedings of the survey are confidential proceedings and it is being done under the supervision of the court, therefore information about which places were surveyed and what was found there cannot be given. But all the parties were satisfied with it. On this basis, to complete the remaining work, the work of the commission will start again on Sunday at 8am,” Sharma said.
The advocate commissioners refused to make any comment to the media after the Saturday’s proceedings.
One of the advocates of the petitioners said that after the survey of the entire Gyanvapi complex is completed, the advocate commissioner would prepare a detailed report and present it before the court on May 17.
SM Yasin, joint secretary of the Anzuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, said, “The commission conducted the proceedings of survey in a very strict manner. We cooperated with the survey. We are satisfied with the manner (in which) proceedings of the commission was conducted.”
Varanasi police commissioner A Satish Ganesh thanked the citizens of Kashi (Varanasi) for cooperating in the commission’s proceedings.
“The commission proceedings started (on Saturday) as per the order of the court. Strong security arrangements were made. The proceedings of the commission went smoothly in a peaceful atmosphere. The peace and order of the city remained intact. Thanks to all the residents of Kashi for their cooperation in this occasion,” Ganesh said.
Security personnel were deployed on the rooftops of the buildings in the vicinity of the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Complex. Police personnel were also deployed in large numbers from Maidagin to Godaulia.
The court of the civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar on Thursday (May 12) had ordered to complete the survey of the Gyanvapi complex. The court asked for a detailed report of the survey on May 17.
The court also decided not to change the advocate commisagreement sioner Ajai Kumar Mishra after hearing a petition filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee seeking his removal and alleging that he was biased.
Instead of removing him, the court appointed special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh and assistant advocate commissioner Ajai Pratap Singh to assist the advocate commissioner.
On Friday, the advocate commissioner served a notice each regarding the survey of the Gyanvapi complex to the petitioners, including Rakhi Singh, Manju Vyas, Sita Sahoo, Laxmi Devi, Rekha Pathak, and the parties in the case, including U.P. State through the chief secretary, and Varanasi district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, Varanasi police commissioner A. Satish Ganesh and Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee and the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Trust.