Court rejects plea to include ‘Wazookhana’ in ASI survey

VARANASI: A Varanasi court on Saturday rejected a plea seeking the inclusion of the “wazookhana” in an ongoing ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex here.

“Rejecting the petition, District Judge A K Vishvesh said the area duly protected under the Supreme Court’s orders should not be subjected to the survey because it may amount to a violation of the court’s orders,” District Government Counsel Rajesh Mishra said.

The plea was filed by Rakhi Singh, one of the petitioners in the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri case. The district court concluded the hearing in the matter and reserved its order on October 19.

At present, the “wazookhana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions), where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, is not part of the survey being conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) due to a Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex.

During the hearing in the wazookhana case on Thursday, the Hindu side’s lawyer, Madan Mohan Yadav, contended that without the survey of the wazookhana, the truth of the Gyanvapi complex could not be revealed.

Opposing it, the mosque management committee told the court that the area of the wazookhana was sealed on the Supreme Court’s orders and accused the Hindu side of making such a demand to put the matter on hold.

The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi complex located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple here to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing temple.