Muslim litigant's lawyer refutes claims that Gyanvapi ASI report found existence of Hindu temple

Lucknow: The lawyer of the Muslim plaintiffs in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque case on Friday refuted claims that the report of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which conducted a scientific survey of the contentious Gyanvapi mosque premises in Varanasi and submitted the survey report in the district court earlier, found evidence of a Hindu temple there.

The lawyer Ikhlaq Ahmed, who was also provided a certified copy of the ASI report following the order of a Varanasi court on Wednesday, told reporters in Varanasi that '''broken idols'' were no proof there existed a Hindu temple in the Gyanvapi mosque complex.

''There was a building in the mosque known as North Yard Gate....five tenants lived there who used to sculpt idols...the area was open before being barricaded and the debris of the idols used to be thrown there,'' he claimed.

''No idol has been found there which can be said to be of Lord Shiva,'' he further claimed.

Ahmed also claimed that no idol was found in the western wall of the mosque to substantiate the claims that the wall was part of a temple.

''We will study the report and file objections wherever we feel the report is wrong,'' the lawyer added.

The Muslims side's response came a day after the Hindu plaintiffs' lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain claimed citing the ASI report that there was evidence to prove that the Gyanvapi mosque had been built after demolishing a Hindu temple in the 17th century. 

Jain claimed that ASI's 800-page long report mention finding ancient scriptures in Kannada, Devanagari, and Telugu languages inside the mosque premises. The scriptures were about Rudra, Janardan and Vishweshwar, and that the pillars of the demolished temple were used to build the mosque.

The Varanasi court had on Wednesday directed for handing over the hard certified copies of the ASI report to the lawyers of the rival sides. Both Hindu and the Muslim parties had sought copies of the ASI survey report.

ASI had submitted the report in two sealed covers last month in the court. ASI, during the survey, started on August 4, used ground-penetrating radar and other scientific instruments to ascertain what lay beneath the surface of the Gyanvapi mosque premises.

The team also surveyed the inner and outer walls, the cellar and other parts of the premises barring the 'wuzukhana' (the place where Muslims perform ablution before proceeding to offer prayers).

The survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises began after the Allahabad High Court rejected the petition filed by Muslim litigants seeking a stay on the Varanasi court's order for a scientific survey by the ASI.

The premises has been a bone of contention between the two communities for the past several decades, but there was a renewed clamour by the saffron outfits to ''take back'' the Kashi Vishwanath Temple premises after the favourable decision of the apex court in the Ram Temple case. 

The Hindu petitioners contended that a part of the temple had been demolished by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century. The Muslim side contended that the mosque existed before the reign of Aurangzeb and also claimed that the same had also been mentioned in the land records.