New Delhi: Only a hard copy of the survey report on the Gyanvapi mosque from the Archaeological Survey of India will be handed to all those who are party to the case, the Varanasi district judge hearing the Gyanvapi case said today. The report will not be made public today and soft copies will not be given to avoid distorted versions making it to social media, the judge has said. It may be a week before the report is made public.
The decision was made in view of the sensitivity of the case, especially in view of the timing. Gyanvapi is one of the several temple-mosque disputes that mushroomed in the country after the Ayodhya Ram Janambhoomi issue.
The Ram temple in Ayodha was consecrated on Monday, around five years after the disputed plot was awarded for a temple by the Supreme Court.
The Gyanvapi report was filed in the Varanasi court in a sealed cover almost a month ago.
The report is crucial to the decision in the case, in which the Hindu side contends the mosque has been built over a temple and demands the right to worship.
The ASI had been conducting the survey since August 4 last year on the Gyanvapi mosque premises. It has only left out the Wuzukhana area, which was sealed by the order of the Supreme Court.
The ASI had submitted the report after receiving multiple deadline extensions from the court, which had ordered the survey on July 21.
The order came following a petition by four women who claimed it was the only way to determine whether the landmark mosque was built after razing a Hindu temple.
In April last year, the court ordered a video survey of the complex based on that petition. The survey conducted in May revealed a structure in the Wuzukhana that the petitioners claimed was a 'shivling'.