Court To Give Orders On Carbon Dating Of 'Shivling' In Gyanvapi Case

Varanasi's district court will pass an order!

On Friday, 07 October 2022, the court of Varanasi's senior-most judge is expected to pass a crucial order on a plea by Hindu women petitioners for a scientific investigation, including carbon dating, of a purported 'Shivling' found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex earlier this year during a video survey carried out on the orders of a lower court in the temple town.

Hindu women petitioners are being heard in the district judge's court, who had filed the "scientific investigation" plea last month, saying it was necessary to determine the age of the 'Shivling'.

In their plea, the women said such an investigation could involve the carbon dating process and be carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India, a government body.

 One of the five Hindu women, though, had taken a divergent view, objecting to the scientific investigation plea by the four other women, saying that any testing, including carbon dating, may harm the 'Shivling'.

The mosque committee had also objected to the scientific investigation plea, saying that the case by the Hindu women was about worshipping at a shrine inside the mosque and had nothing to do with its structure. The mosque committee said the object being called a 'Shivling' was actually a "fountain".

The Gyanvapi mosque, located in PM Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi, is one of the several mosques that Hindu hardliners believe were built on the ruins of temples.