Varanasi Court Sets February 15 for Hearing Petition Requesting ASI Survey of Gyanvapi Basements

Varanasi: A Varanasi court has scheduled February 15 for the hearing of a plea requesting a comprehensive survey of all sealed basements within the Gyanvapi complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). 

The petition contends the presence of 'hidden chambers' within these basements, deeming it imperative to conduct a survey to uncover the complete truth regarding the Gyanvapi complex. 

Attorney Madan Mohan Yadav informed that Acting District Judge Anil Kumar has designated February 15 for the next hearing on the matter. The petitioner, Rakhi Singh, a founding member of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh and a participant in the Maa Shringar Gauri case, which prompted the ASI survey of the complex, has urged in the petition for the ASI to survey all closed chambers within the Gyanvapi mosque complex, situated adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, as stated by her representative, Anupam Dwivedi. Additionally, the petition includes a map outlining the closed basements.

Following an earlier petition by five women devotees, the court had ordered the ASI to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, barring the 'wazukhana' used for ritual ablutions before namaz.

The southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque was opened last week and a priest performed prayers.

The court had allowed regular prayers in the cellar on the petition by Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who claimed that his maternal grandfather, priest Somnath Vyas, used to perform prayers there till December 1993.

According to Pathak's counsel, the access to the cellar was closed for the priest during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s term as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

The prayers at the cellar are being performed by a priest nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust. Devotees to the temple have also begun going past the opening in the barricade, created after the court order, to have a glimpse of the cellar.