Protect ‘signs of temple’ in Gyanvapi masjid: PIL in High Court

PRAYAGRAJ/VARANASI: A day ahead of the Allahabad high court’s verdict on the Gyanvapi mosque management’s petition challenging the proposed ASI survey of the complex, two people representing the Hindu side filed a PIL in the HC and an application in the Varanasi district court on Wednesday, seeking directives to the UP government to protect “signs of a pre-existing Hindu temple on the premises”.

The PIL by Jitendra Singh Vishen, international president of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS), and his niece Rakhi Singh, who is plaintiff No 1 in the Shringar Gauri worship case, suggests the Gyanvapi complex be sealed without affecting the ASI survey. The petition says this is required to ensure “no damage can be done by non-Hindus/non-Sanatanis” to what remains of the claimed Hindu place of worship.

The PIL says the petitioners’ objective is to “save the centuries-old remains of the Sri Adi Vishweshwar temple (within the Gyanvapi complex) in Varanasi”, including the purported Shivling found in the ablution pond of the mosque and “other visible and invisible deities in the precincts of the temple”.



Rakhi Singh, a founder member of VVSS, separately filed an application in the court of the Varanasi district judge, flagging the alleged possibility of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM) — the current custodian of the Gyanvapi complex — damaging purported evidence of a Hindu temple there. Her counsel Anupam Dwivedi alleged that indications of AIM, which is allowed access to Gyanvapi, damaging “Hindu signs” come to light during a court-mandated survey in May 2022. Rakhi’s application mentions that when an ASI team reached the Gyanvapi complex for a scientific survey, as ordered by the district court on July 21, AIM kept the doors of the mosque locked and did not provide the keys to the visiting team. The plea claims this is sufficient evidence of Hindu signs within the complex being removed.


The application is scheduled to be heard on Friday along with other related cases, Dwivedi said.

The court of the district judge had asked ASI to submit its survey report by August 4. AIM challenged this in the SC, which halted the survey and asked the petitioner to appeal in the Allahabad HC.