The Anjuman Intazamia Mosque Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, on Thursday approached the Supreme Court within hours of the Allahabad High Court giving the Archaeological Survey India (ASI) the green signal to conduct an “investigation” of the premises.
The committee, represented by advocate Fuzail Ayyubi, said the religious character of the premises has remained a mosque since Independence.
The petition said any “findings” made in the survey would be rendered “nugatory and irrelevant” as the site was protected under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The Supreme Court had in its 2020 judgment in the Ramjanmabhoomi temple case held that the “Places of Worship Act imposes a non-derogable obligation towards enforcing our commitment to secularism under the Indian Constitution”.
“The Act is a reiteration of the preambular virtues of secularism and fraternity as well as the principle of non-retrogression, such virtues embedded within the Constitution, forming its basic structure,” the committee submitted in the special leave petition.
The committee said the Varanasi District Court had ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) study even as the original suit filed by five Hindu women, seeking a declaration to worship their religious gods at the premises, was still pending.
The ASI had in “hot haste” come to the premises with 30-40 personnel to conduct the survey at 7 a.m. on July 24, the very same day the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the case. The top court stayed the survey on July 24, giving the Gyanvapi mosque management “breathing time” to approach the Allahabad High Court.
In its appeal, the mosque committee said the High Court unnecessarily focussed on whether the survey was “invasive” or not. Instead, the committee said, the pertinent question before the High Court was whether such a survey, considering the sensitivity of the matter and the fact that there was a pending suit, could be allowed at all.
The petition said factors like the “unnecessary haste” shown by the ASI to start work, the heavy deployment of security and the telecast of the event on almost every news channel suggest that “the survey, in whatever form or by whatever methodology, seeks to raise a fresh controversy”. “This would hinder the peaceful access of Muslims to the mosque and the rights of the committee to manage its affairs,” it said.
The committee argued that such a turn of events would be in contempt of a May 17, 2022 order of the top court to protect the Muslims who want to worship at the mosque. The Supreme Court had also directed the sealing of a specific area near the wazukhana where a ‘shivling’ was reportedly found. The committee has maintained that the object is a fountain.
The petition is likely to be mentioned on August 4.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday upheld the order of the Varanasi District Court for conducting a “scientific survey” of the mosque.
District Magistrate of Varanasi, S. Rajalingam, confirmed to The Hindu that the ASI had informed the administration that it would commence the survey of the mosque premises (except the wazukhana) on Friday.
“We will provide all the needed assistance to the ASI,” Mr. Rajalingam said.
The district court had asked the ASI to file a report on whether the Gyanvyapi mosque “structure” was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.
