Court-appointed team surveys Varanasi mosque amid tight security
India Today
The court-appointed survey team included litigants and lawyers from both the Hindu and the Muslim communities, including the court commissioner. However, the team was greeted by religiously-charged sloganeering from both sides.
A team led by a court commissioner reached Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque earlier today to survey and videograph the premises in accordance to a court order. The team will start work again tomorrow at 3 pm.
The court-appointed survey team included litigants and lawyers from both the Hindu and the Muslim communities, including the court commissioner. However, the team was greeted by religiously-charged sloganeering from both sides.
Devotees had thronged to the masjid for Friday prayers around the same time when the team reached the premises to carry out their judicial direction. The mufti even had to ask those in queue to offer namaaz at a different mosque due to a space crunch.
Many also raised 'Har Har Mahadev' slogans, evoking a reaction from some of the Muslims, who too raised religious slogans. However, the police promptly drove them away.
In the Shringar Gauri worship case, the court of Varanasi‘s Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar had on April 26 ordered videography of the Shringar Gauri temple in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque complex and other places after Eid and before May 10.
To carry out its order, the court had appointed advocate Ajay Kumar Mishra as its commissioner.
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