Varanasi. The Hindu side has suffered a major setback in the matter of survey of the entire complex including Vajukhan of Gyanvapi. A fast track court in Varanasi has rejected the petition demanding a survey of the entire complex. The court has said that the entire campus of Gyanvapi will not be surveyed. After the decision, the Hindu side has said that an appeal will be made against it in the High Court. It is noteworthy that the Hindu side had claimed that a hundred feet Shivalinga is present below the main dome. In such a situation, the entire complex should be excavated and a survey should be conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India, ASI.
After the decision of the fast track court, Hindu side’s lawyer Jai Shankar Rastogi said – We will now go to the High Court regarding this matter. Another lawyer said- The demand for Vaju Khana and ASI survey is already pending in the High Court. The District Court could not give any order in contradiction to it. Perhaps for this reason this petition has been rejected. The fast track court gave its verdict on the petition filed in 1991.
This petition was raised 33 years ago by Pandit Somnath Vyas, Dr. Ramrang Sharma and Pandit Harihar Nath Pandey on behalf of the self-styled Vishveshwar Jyotirling, demanding an ASI survey of the entire complex. However, all three have died. Now the plaintiff is Advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi. The hearing on the petition demanding survey of the entire complex continued in the fast track court for eight months. During this, the lawyers of the Muslim side had argued that when the ASI survey of Gyanvapi complex has been done once before, then there is no justification for conducting a second survey. He said that digging a pit in the mosque premises for survey would not be practical in any way. This may cause damage to the mosque.