Petition in Supreme Court seeks 'confidential' survey of all mosques with wells, ponds
India Today
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking 'confidential' survey of all mosques that have wells and ponds.
A Petition has been filed by two advocates before the Supreme Court seeking a confidential survey of ancient prominent mosques that have wells or ponds in India, amid a row involving Gyanvapi mosque and Qutub Minar.
The petitioners sought a confidential survey by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on all prominent mosques that have wells/ponds or allow 'wazu' to be performed inside the mosque.
The petition also sought directions for the shifting of wuzu or wudu ( the Islamic procedure followed by Muslims for cleansing parts of the body before offering prayers) from the ponds and wells in mosques over a hundred years old.
According to petitioners, a confidential survey could be completed so that if any relic is discovered, unnecessary communal hatred and hurting religious sentiments could be avoided.
A controversy erupted after ASI’s ex-regional director Dharamveer Sharma claimed that the Qutub Minar was constructed by Raja Vikramaditya and not by Qutb al-Din Aibak, to study the direction of the sun.
India Today has accessed an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report from 1871-72 that unearthed evidence of the mosque on the Qutub Minar complex having been built at the site of Hindu temples. Former ASI director Dr Amrendra Nath corroborated the findings of the ASI report and said the information presented in the report is “completely true”.
Following a court-monitored survey of Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, a structure was found inside the basement. While the Hindu side claimed it was a shivling, the Muslim side said it was a fountain.
