Gyanvapi mosque: Varanasi Court rejects demand for carbon dating of 'Shivling'

A Varanasi district court on Friday (October 14) rejected the demand for carbon dating of a "Shivling", claimed to be found on the Gyanvapi mosque premises. Hindu petitioners demanded the scientific test to establish the age of the alleged 'Shivling' but the court did not find legal merit in their demand.

The claim was disputed by the Muslim side, which said the object was part of a "fountain".

Hindu petitioners had during a court-mandated videography survey of the mosque premises 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.

Arguments on the plea were complete on Tuesday and the court will pronounce its verdict on Friday, District Government Counsel Mahendra Pratap Pandey said.

Advocate Mumtaz Ahmed, who appeared for the Muslim side, said they told the court that carbon dating of the object cannot be done.

If the object gets damaged in the name of carbon dating, it amounts to the defiance of the order of the Supreme Court, he said.

Earlier, the Muslim side had contended that the Supreme Court had asked the Varanasi district magistrate to keep the object safe.