VARANASI : A Varanasi court dismissed Saturday a Hindu petitioners plea for an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of a wuzukhana (ablution pond) in the Gyanvapi mosque compound, minus a purported shivling found there last year.District judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha cited a May 17, 2022, order of the Supreme Court to reject the plea by Rakhi Singh.The area where shivling is stated to have been found was ordered to be duly protected by the SC. This area was excluded from the ambit of the survey by the order of this court dated July 21. The order was upheld with slight modifications by the HC and SC. In these circumstances, it is not proper to direct ASI to conduct a survey of the area, Vishvesha said.According to the judge, the area should not be subjected to a survey because it may amount to violation of its (SC) order.Soon after, Rakhi Singhs lawyer Saurabh Tiwari said they would move the high court. The plea was filed on August 29. The Anjuman Intejamia Masjid -the Gyanvapi mosque management committee -had opposed the survey.An ASI scientific investigation of the Gyanvapi mosque is already under way to determine whether it was constructed over a pre-existing Hindu temple, in accordance with an order of judge Vishvesha on July 21. But the July order excludes the wuzukhana area, in which the purported shivling was found during another courtmandated survey on May 16, 2022.The wuzukhana lies sealed now. The May 2022 survey had stemmed from a plea by Rakhi and four other women plaintiffs seeking regular worship of Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi mosque compound.

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