Varanasi: A Varanasi court on Friday refused to carry carbon dating of the oval object found in the Gyanvapi mosque complex that the Hindu plaintiffs claim is a shivling.
Carbon dating is a scientific method used to determine the age of an archaeological object.
The Court also rejected all demands made for a scientific probe of the structure in the mosque.
The Court rejected the plea submitted by the Hindu side and said in its order that carbon dating of the structure ‘will not answer the questions of legalities involved in the suit.’
The Hindu side had during a court-mandated videography survey of the mosque premises earlier claimed that a ‘Shivling’ was found close to the ‘Wazookhana’, a small reservoir used by Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering the namaz. The Muslim side has however heavily disputed the ‘Shivling’ claim and have maintained that the object was part of a ‘fountain’ and not a ‘Shivling’.
The Muslim side on Friday argued that the decision on ASI survey of the mosque was still pending with the High Court and hence the lower court must wait before allowing carbon dating of the structure.
The Hindu side had initially submitted a petition seeking carbon dating of the structure so as to ‘confirm’ their claims that the object in the mosque was in fact a ‘Shivling’. There were several objections raised by both the Muslim side and some litigators in the Hindu side for carbon dating of the structure.
Advocate Mumtaz Ahmed, who had appeared for the Muslim side, earlier told the court that carbon dating of the object cannot be done and if the object gets damaged in the name of carbon dating, it amounts to the defiance of the order of the Supreme Court.
The Muslim side also said that the original case is about the worship of Shringar Gauri while the structure in the mosque has nothing to do with it.
Some from the Hindu side too had opposed the plea seeking carbon dating and said that the demand is unwarranted for and would amount to mishandling of the sacred structure.
