Gyanvapi Masjid Survey: Gyanvapi case: Videography survey concludes on third day

A court-ordered videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, conducted for the third day in a row, ended on Monday amid tight security, officials said.

The survey of the mosque complex started at 8 am and ended at 10:15 am.

The mosque is located near the iconic Kashi Bishwanath temple, and a local court is hearing an application by a group of women seeking permission to offer daily prayers in front of the statue on its outer wall.

“After working for more than two hours, the court commission completed its work around 10.15 am on Monday. All parties were satisfied with the work,” Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told reporters here.

The survey was postponed last week amid objections from the mosque committee, which claimed that there was no order to film inside the premises of the court-appointed advocate commissioner for the survey.

In his order last Thursday, District Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Divakar rejected an application by the mosque committee to replace Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was appointed by the court as an advocate commissioner to survey the Gyanbapi-Gauri Sringar complex.

The judge appointed two more advocates to assist the court commissioner in the survey and said it should be completed by Tuesday.

The district court said the lock had to be broken if the key was not found to access certain areas of the complex for the survey. If the survey is not allowed, it has asked the district authorities to register an FIR.

The Supreme Court last Friday refused to issue an interim injunction in the survey. The apex court, however, agreed to consider the list of petitions filed by a Muslim party against the survey.

A videography team conducted the survey, in addition to three court-appointed advocate commissioners, five lawyers from both sides and an assistant.