Appearing in court, ASI additional director Alok Tiwari submitted: “During the survey, we will not damage or demolish any structure or its parts, like wall or pillar. We will not cut or dig any part of the structure. Survey will be done by non-destructive techniques, and for the ground-penetrating radar survey, we have called experts from IIT Kanpur.”

Taking into account this submission, the court orally remarked that hypothetically, even if it is felt that anything wrong could be done by the state or the ASI, the court could always stop them. After this, the chief justice told the ASI officer that since “the apex court’s stay order was operative till 5 pm today, if any of your team is present at the spot, ask them not to conduct the survey now as a hearing is going on”. As AIM lawyer SFA Naqvi sought some time to go through the ASI affidavit, the court fixed the hearing for 3.30pm on Thursday.

During the course of the hearing , the AIM lawyer, senior advocate SFA Naqvi, submitted that while passing the order on July 21, the Varanasi court had come to the conclusion that in the absence of a survey report, the issues in this suit couldn’t be decided, but the court did not discuss the materials before it on the basis of which it reached such a conclusion. He said first the court has to proceed on the basis of evidence produced by the applicants, but no such evidence is mentioned in the plaint. He also argued that the present suit was not filed by the trust management but a third party — four women. Hence, the suit was not maintainable.

Watch Gyanvapi mosque: Allahabad HC stays ASI survey till next hearing on July 27