Row Over Survey at Gyanvapi Mosque Near Temple In UP's Varanasi: 10 Points

The women have asked for year-long access to a Hindu shrine just behind the mosque

Varanasi: Petitions by five women asking to be allowed to pray at a Hindu shrine behind Varanasi's Gyanvapi Mosque complex is building up into a flashpoint in Uttar Pradesh. Reports said one of the women may withdraw her plea but she later said she wouldn't.

Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:

It was reported earlier that Delhi resident Rakhi Singh, one of the five petitioners in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex row is likely to withdraw her petition, but she emphatically denied it while speaking to reporters.
She and the other petitioners, Varanasi locals Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak, have asked for access to a Hindu shrine just behind the Gyanvapi mosque.
On Friday and Saturday, a court-appointed official and a team of lawyers carried out an inspection at the mosque complex located next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple. Massive security arrangements were made for the survey.
The inspection was ordered by a local court on the petitions by the women last year.
The women want unrestricted, yearlong access to Maa Shringar Gauri site located at the back of the mosque's western wall. The site is currently opened once a year for rituals and prayers.
The women also want permission to pray to other "visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex".
The local court has directed the authorities to submit a report by May 10.
The survey has not been fully completed because of a dispute over videography inside the mosque. The caretaker committee of the Gyanvapi mosque and its lawyers have said they are opposed to any videography inside the mosque. But the lawyers for the petitioners have claimed they had the court's go-ahead.
The local court heard arguments from both sides today, but the hearing will continue tomorrow too
In March, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed a plea by the mosque caretakers challenging the court order to appoint an advocate as commissioner for the survey.