Varanasi court to decide if videography can be done inside Gyanvapi mosque  

The court will also decide if the advocate commissioner will be replaced after complaints

A local court in Varanasi on May 12 is expected to decide if an advocate commissioner appointed by it to videograph a ‘Hindu site’ outside the wall of the Gyanvapi Masjid would be allowed to enter the tehkhana (cellar) of the mosque in the highly-sensitive complex for inspection.

The court would also decide if the advocate commissioner, Ajay Kumar Mishra, would be replaced after the caretakers of the Gyanvapi Masjid alleged that he was acting in a “biased” manner while conducting the videographic inspection.

The video inspection was halted on the first day after the mosque committee objected to the demand by the Hindu plaintiffs that the advocate commissioner be allowed inside the mosque and its cellar.

Civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar had appointed the court commissioner after five women plaintiffs linked to a right-wing group Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh in April filed a suit declaring that they were entitled to have daily darshan, pooja and perform all the rituals of Maa Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman and other “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex” situated at settlement plot no 9130 in the Dashwamedh area.

They had also demanded that an advocate commissioner conduct a local inspection of the site and ascertain the existence of the image of deities Maa Shringar Gauri and others at the plot.

While the court order did not specifically state if the inspection would include videography inside the Gyanvapi Masjid and its cellar, its caretakers asserted that they objected to any videography inside the mosque and inside the barricades. The Hindu plaintiffs then filed an application pleading the court to specify the areas of inspection along with the duration of the process.

Shivam Gaur, a lawyer for the Hindu plaintiffs, told The Hindu they wanted a clarification specifically “if the tehkhana would be opened and inspection allowed inside it.”