Indian court accepts Hindu plea for survey of 17th-century mosque

Gyanvapi Mosque is alleged to have been built on the site of a Hindu temple by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb

Policemen stand guard near Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. AFP

An Indian court on Thursday dismissed a plea from Muslim petitioners to block an archaeological survey of a 17th-century mosque, which was called for over claims it was built on the site of an ancient Hindu temple.

The Allahabad High Court was hearing a petition filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid – the committee responsible for the upkeep of the Gyanvapi Mosque in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi.

Right-wing Hindu groups have campaigned for decades to reclaim the site due to the belief that the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb built the mosque over the ruins of the Vishweshwar temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

The mosque committee challenged the Varanasi District Court’s order allowing the Archaeological Survey of India to study the mosque complex, excluding the ablution area where the Hindu petitioners claim to have found a Shiv Linga – a representation of Shiva.

“Issue of a commission is permissible,” the high court said. “The Varanasi Court was justified in ordering for an ASI survey of the premises. Scientific survey is necessary in the interest of justice.”

The Varanasi Court in May last year allowed the filming of the mosque premises by a court-appointed advocate commissioner based on a petition filed by five Hindus demanding free access to the complex and the right to pray to all “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex”.

This led to the entire mosque complex being sealed off after the officer revealed his report to the media before submitting it to the court, claiming that a Shiv Linga had been found in a pond that Muslim officials said was a fountain.

The Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Taniya Dutta / The National

The Supreme Court shifted the case from a civil judge to the district judge in September due to the “sensitivity and complexity” of the issue.

The top court also maintained its interim order protecting the spot where the purported Shiv Linga was found while allowing Muslims to continue to worship in the mosque.

In May this year, the Hindu petitioners asked the Varanasi District Court to allow a “scientific survey” of the mosque. In July, the court directed the ASI to survey the Gyanvapi complex to ascertain whether it had been “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.

The mosque committee had argued that the survey could damage the building's structural integrity.

India's ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies have been campaigning for decades to “reclaim” hundreds of historical Muslim religious structures that they say were built after demolishing Hindu temples.