A court-appointed official and a team of lawyers began a videographic survey of the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal at the disputed Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi on Friday, 6 May. The survey continued on Saturday, 7 May, as well.
The court's direction for the survey comes after a petition filed by Rakhi Singh and four other plaintiffs in April 2021 declaring that they were entitled to have daily darshan, pooja and perform rituals at the site of Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman, and other “visible and invisible deities within old temple complex”.
According to the plaintiffs, there existed an image of the goddess Shringar Gauri at the back of the western wall of the mosque. The plaintiffs, according to a The Hindu report, also demanded that caretakers of the mosque be restricted from creating obstacles or interfere in the performance of daily pooja, aarti and rituals by devotees.
On 26 April, Civil Judge Varanasi, Ravi Kumar Diwakar, had appointed Advocate Commissioner Ajai Kumar to carry out the survey and asked him to submit a report at the next hearing on 10 May.
The inspection began around 3 pm on Friday amid sloganeering from large groups of people outside the mosque. The court had directed that besides the advocate commissioner and parties, one associate can remain present during the proceedings.
SM Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid Managing Committee, had said that no one will be allowed to enter the mosque.
Some reports stated that the Muslim side has said that the videography should be restricted to the premises of Kashi Vishwanath temple, and no "non-believer" will be allowed to enter the mosque.
(With inputs from IANS, The Hindu)
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