Uttar Pradesh: Court verdict on carbon dating of 'shivling' in Gyanvapi case on Oct 14

VARANASI: The Varanasi district judge court on Tuesday fixed October 14 as the date to deliver its order on the demand of four women plaintiffs, seeking court intervention for carbon dating of the purported ‘shivling' claimed to have been found in the ablution pond of the mosque during court commission survey on May 16.
During the court hearing on Tuesday, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid — the Gyanvapi mosque management committee — strongly opposed the demand of carbon dating and scientific investigation of the ‘shivling’. The AIM lawyers stated in the court that as “the Supreme Court’s order of May 17 to protect it is prevalent, such structure can’t be disturbed”.
Countering the AIM contention, Vishnu Jain, the lawyer of plaintiffs 2 to 5 in the case said: “The SC had empowered the Varanasi district judge through its May 20 order to dispose all applications related to the case.”
“With the end of arguments of all sides on carbon dating and scientific investigation of the ‘shivling’ and its constituents, district judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha reserved his order for October 14,” district government counsel (civil) Mahendra Prasad Pandey told TOI.
AIM lawyer Akhlaq Ahmed said, “We filed our objection against the demand of carbon dating and scientific investigation of the structure being claimed as ‘shivling’ before the court on Tuesday, mentioning that the structure would have to be disturbed for any of these investigations. In its May 17 order, the SC had asked to protect the structure. When the SC’s order is prevailing, how could the demand of this nature prevail above it?”
“We also said that the ‘shivling’ is not the part of claims made in the case no. 18/2022. Besides, the report of the court commission survey in which the structure was claimed to be found has also not been disposed of. Before the disposal of the court commission report, this issue can’t be disposed of. It is a premature demand,” Ahmed added.
Reply to it was submitted by Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Jain, the two lawyers representing plaintiffs 2 to 5 — Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak — in case no. 18/2022. The plaintiffs are seeking the right to daily worship Shringar Gauri and other deities in Gyanvapi compound.
“While transferring the case file from the Varanasi civil judge (senior division) to the Varanasi district judge on May 20, the SC had ordered that trial and all interlocutory and ancillary proceedings in the suit shall be addressed and decided by the court of the district judge,” the Jains told TOI.
The Jains further reiterated that in the suit they have already sought worship of all ‘visible and invisible’ deities in Gyanvapi, and as the ‘shivling’ became visible during the court commission survey ,it is a case property.
The DGC (civil) said, “Following these arguments, the court reserved its order. The court is also likely to hear the applications filed under Order 1 Rule 10 of Code of Civil Procedure to become a party in this case on October 14.”
Apart from AIM, plaintiff No 1 Rakhi Singh, too, had opposed the demand for carbon dating of the ‘shivling’ in the court on September 29. Her lawyer Maan Bahadur Singh had mentioned that the process of carbon dating was not possible without damaging the ‘shivling’ as taking chemical or physical particles would be a must for this scientific investigation. In Sanatan tradition, broken idols can’t be worshipped, he had submitted.