AMN / WEB DESK
In a significant order, the Varanasi Court has rejected a plea moved by the Hindu worshippers seeking a scientific investigation into ‘Shiva Linga’, reportedly found inside the Gyanvapi Mosque premises. The Court rejected the plea in view of the Supreme Court’s order to protect the spot where a “shiv ling” was claimed to have been found during the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.
Varanasi Court remarked that If Carbon Dating or Ground Penetrating Radar is permitted and if any damage is caused to the ‘Shiva Linga’ then it would be a violation of the Supreme Court order to protect it and it might also hurt the religious sentiments of the general public,”
Madan Mohan, one of the counsels representing the plaintiffs in Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi case, rejected the plea seeking carbon dating or any scientific investigation of the structure which the plaintiffs claimed to be a Shivling and other surrounding structures. He said the court ordered to preserve the structure in its original state.
Earlier this week, the court had reserved its judgement during the hearing in Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi complex case after the Muslim side had submitted its response.
“The court has rejected our demand of seeking carbon dating. We’ll move to Supreme Court against this order, and challenge it there. I cannot announce the date as of now, but we’ll soon challenge this order in Supreme Court,” Advocate Vishnu Jain, representing the Hindu side in Gyanvapi case, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
While objecting to the plea from the plaintiff seeking carbon dating and scientific investigation of the fountain, which they claim to be a Shivling and other structures on the Gyanvapi mosque compound, the counsels of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC), the Muslim side, submitted their response in the last hearing, stating that carbon dating of the structure is not ‘feasible’ and ‘irrelevant’. “Carbon dating of the stone is not possible, it is non-feasible, since stone is not an organic matter”, Raees Ahmed, one of the counsels of AIMC, the committee that takes care of the Gyanvapi mosque, said in the court.
Besides, the AIMC counsel in the response also stated that the structure is not the part of the suit property and hence carrying out carbon dating or scientific investigation to verify its age is ‘irrelevant’.
The demands of carbon-dating had also led to differing opinions among the petitioners of the Hindu side. One of the five Hindu women – originally linked to the Gyanvapi suit – had objected to it.