Varanasi district court permits ASI to survey Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Gyanvapi mosque complex

The court was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Vijay Shankar Rastogi, who demanded the land entailing the Gyanvapi Mosque be restored back to the Hindus.

The Varanasi civil court has given nod for an archaeological survey of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex. The court was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Vijay Shankar Rastogi, who demanded that the land entailing the Gyanvapi Mosque be restored back to the Hindus. The petition claimed that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb pulled down a portion of the 2,000-year-old Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 1664 to construct the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place.