The court ordered survey and videography of the disputed Gyanvapi mosque structure in Varanasi had to be stopped today, as a protesting Muslim prevented the survey team from entering the mosque on Sunday. While the team were able to survey the outer façade of the structure, they could not enter the structure for survey despite a court order, as the entrance to the mosuqe was blocked by the protesting Muslims. The survey process has been stopped now due to the protests, and the survey team will approach the court for further orders.
After stopping the court-directed documentation for the day in Varanasi, a videographer who accompanied the survey team involved in the process has revealed the presence of Hindu motifs including the Swastika, Nandi (bull associated with Shiva) and lotus motifs all over the outer side of the mosque walls.
#GyanvapiMosque | ‘Ancient traces of Swastik Chinh, Nandi & lotus were there’, says a videographer, who accompanied the survey panel inside the premises of the mosque.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 8, 2022
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Some of the team members from the documentation committee have reported about the challenges faced by them to continue their work amidst protests. While talking to the media, it was revealed that the videography of the outer facade of the disputed structure has been completed. One of the videographers, while talking to Times Now, has revealed that he saw a number of Hindu sacred motifs on the outer facade of the erstwhile temple, which have been converted to a mosque.
The videographer said, “Today, we saw Swastik symbols at two places on the walls of the temple. There are a number of lotus symbols all over.” When asked whether he saw images of Goddesses, Ganesh on the western wall of the temple (as claimed), he said, “Yes. We saw Nandi while doing a Parikrama and other Hindu religious symbols.”
They said that due to the presence of large number of Muslims, survey could not be conducted inside the premises, and only the outer façade was surveyed and video recorded. The team members said that the mob prevented them from going inside by blocking the door, and therefore the local administration officials didn’t allow them to entre the premises.
One of the advocate member said that today’s proceeding had started amid the barricade, but they found that a large number of Muslims were present inside the mosque. When the team reached the site, the Muslims came out and blocked the gate. He said that the administration also didn’t cooperate with the survey them and didn’t allow them to proceed. As a result, they had to return form the spot.
This was a blatant violation of court order by the mob, as the court has ordeded to survey and video record the entire disputed structure of Gyanvapi mosque. The survey team will now file an application with the court regarding the matter to survey the inside of the disputed structure. As a result, the court-ordered survey has been stopped for now, and it will resume only after the court orders the administration to ensure survey inside the mosque.
Last week, In the ongoing hearing of the case related to the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque dispute of Varanasi, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday ordered the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to present on record all the documentary evidence pertaining to State surveys wherein allegedly the property was declared as waqf property Advocate Rastogi, the appointed next friend of Lord Vishweshwar, asserted that the property was always a Hindu property as the land belongs to ‘swayambhu’ (self-manifested) Lord Vishweshwar and Aurangzeb had no right to acquire the land. The Gyanvapi Mosque is located in the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex where Hindus believe that Vishveshwara still sits in the disputed complex. The Court has adjourned the hearing till April 29.
