Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 12 : The Allahabad High Court on Friday, allowed the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct carbon dating of alleged 'Shivling', which was found during the survey in Gyanvapi Mosque campus.
The order has been given by Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra on the petition of Lakshmi Devi and others.
The court accepted the petition that was filed to challenge the decision of the Varanasi district court which had refused to allow the carbon dating citing the Supreme Court's order to maintain the status quo.
Varanasi District Court had rejected the application demanding carbon dating on October 14, 2022.
"The matter is being heard by the Supreme Court. In such a situation, the civil court does not have the right to pass orders," the court had said.
Notably, the court has asked to conduct carbon dating without damaging or causing any harm to the structure. Carbon dating refers to a method of calculating the age of very old objects by measuring the amounts of different forms of carbon in them.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque case, told , "...The ASI has presented several techniques of scientific survey before the court. On 22nd May, District Judge will decide how will the scientific survey be carried out."
On behalf of the state government, Additional Advocate General MC Chaturvedi and Chief Permanent Advocate Bipin Bihari Pandey presented their side on the petition. Advocates Harishankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain representing the Hindu side and SFA Naqvi presented the petition on behalf of Gyanvapi Masjid.
The court had asked Government of India's advocate Manoj Kumar Singh whether carbon dating could be done without damaging the Shivling because this investigation will reveal the age of Shivling. ASI said that a carbon dating test can be done on Shivling without damage.
This civil revision was filed on behalf of petitioners Lakshmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak, which has been accepted by the court after arguments from both the sides.
The 'Wazu' area of the Gyanvapi mosque is the centre of the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute between Hindus and Muslims since the Hindu parties claim that 'Shivling' has been found in that spot, however, the Muslim side disputed the same and said that it is only a water fountain.
On May 20, 2022, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the case related to worship at Gyanvapi mosque from the civil judge to the district judge, Varanasi. On May 17, 2022, in an interim order, the top court directed the authorities to protect the 'Wazu' area where the 'Shivling' was reportedly found and granted access to Muslims for namaz.
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