Barely two months ago, a different bench of the same court had cleared the decks for the survey, noting that an order last year by the Varanasi court which declined a survey request was “assumptive and presumptive”.
In its order on Friday, the Varanasi court directed the ASI to do a “scientific investigation/survey/excavation” of the Gyanvapi mosque premises and asked it to “find out” whether the “present structure” was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.
The Supreme Court was initially not inclined to order a complete status quo, however, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta clarified that no excavation or invasive methods were being adopted at the site.