FTC to hear GyanvapiASI survey case today

Varanasi: Hearing in original suit number 610/1991 Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar vs Anjuman Intejamia Masjid (Gyanvapi mosque management committee) at the fast track court of civil judge (senior division) was deferred on Wednesday and slated to be heard on Thursday.
No legal work could take place in district court on Wednesday due to a condolence meeting and the FTC fixed the date of August 22 (Thursday) for the next hearing in this suit, said plaintiff and advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi.
Rastogi is seeking an additional survey of the mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India by demanding the creation of a trench to reach the sanctum sanctorum of Aadi Vishweshwar temple, where a tall Shivling and artisan well are buried under the central dome. On August 12, he had completed his argument to seek an additional survey of the mosque by the ASI. After this, the FTC had fixed August 21 as the next date for hearing, asking AIM to file its reply by the same date.
In this original suit, the court on April 8, 2021, had ordered ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey. Against this order, AIM had moved HC.
However, HC dismissed AIM's revision petition challenging the maintainability of a Varanasi court’s April 8, 2021, order for a comprehensive survey of Gyanvapi mosque on December 19, 2023, when it had ordered ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire Gyanvapi mosque.
As ASI had already conducted a survey of Gyanvapi in suit no. 18/2022, in which five women plaintiffs are seeking worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi mosque compound and submitted its report on December 18, 2023, and it was opened on court order on January 24, 2024, the court ordered Rastogi to study it.
As per FTC’s December 30, 2023, order, Rastogi received the copy of such ASI report and studied it before submitting his plea before the FTC in February.
Apart from the points highlighted in Monday’s argument, Rastogi has also demanded a survey of the mosque compound, which was not covered in ASI’s previous scientific investigation like wuzukhana (ablution water tank), which is lying sealed on the court orders since May 16, 2022, following claims of detection of a Shivling.
The study of the old boundary of Gyanvapi mosque, ascertaining whether the religious structure standing at present at the disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition, or there is structural overlapping of any kind with or over any religious structure. If the mosque is superimposed on a Hindu temple, then what exactly is the age, size, monumental and archaeological design of it, and which deity or deities it was devoted to, contained the plea of Rastogi.