The Supreme Court
on Tuesday allowed a plea moved by Hindu women plaintiffs for cleaning the
water tank in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which is located in an area that
has been sealed.
A bench of Chief
Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and
Manoj Misra directed that the water tank be cleaned under the supervision of
the Varanasi district magistrate.
The direction
came after Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, appearing in court on
behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government, sought permission for the cleaning of
the tank, saying there were dead fish in it.
The apex court
also noted in its order that the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee had filed a
similar plea, the management body of the mosque, before a trial court in
Varanasi.
The Varanasi
district court had, on July 21 last year, directed the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) to conduct a "detailed scientific survey" — including
excavations, wherever necessary — to ascertain whether the mosque next to the
Kashi Vishwanath temple was built upon a temple.
The mosque's
"wazukhana" (a small reservoir where devotees perform ritual
ablutions), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a
"Shivling" exists, will not be part of the survey, following an
earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the mosque complex.
Hindu activists
claim that a temple existed earlier at the site, and it was demolished in the
17th century on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
A videographic
survey of the Gyanvapi complex, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple,
was conducted last year, and it revealed what the Hindu side claimed was a
'Shivling' inside the mosque premises. The Muslim side, on the other hand, has
argued that the building is only a fountain.
The 'Wazu' area
of the Gyanvapi mosque is the centre of the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath
temple dispute between Hindus and Muslim parties in the case since the Hindu
parties claim that 'Shivling' has been found in that spot, however, the Muslim
side disputed the same and said that it is only a water fountain.