HC Adjourns Hearing on Plea Seeking ASI Survey

The Allahabad high court on Monday adjourned hearing on a plea seeking an ASI survey of the wazukhana (ablution pond) area in the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi.

- HT Correspondent

PRAYAGRAJ:

The court set July 4 as the next date of hearing after being informed of an interim Supreme Court order restraining courts across the country from passing directions on lawsuits relating to religious places.

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal passed the order in a petition filed by Rakhi Singh who is one of the plaintiffs in the Shringar Gauri worshipping suit 2022, which is pending before the Varanasi's district court.

The petition in the high court has challenged a Varanasi district judge's order refusing to direct the Archeological Survey of India to undertake a survey of the wazukhana area except the structure the Hindu side claims to be a Shivlinga and the Muslim side describes as a fountain in the Gyanvapi mosque complex.

In her application before the Varanasi court, which was rejected on October 21, 2023, the primary contention raised by Rakhi Singh was that the survey of the wazukhana, excluding the Shivlinga, is necessary to ascertain the religious character of the property in question (Gyanvapi precincts).