Gyanvapi Mosque: Allahabad HC Allows ASI To Conduct Carbon Dating Of 'Shivling' Inside Complex

Gyanvapi Mosque Case: Last year, a Varanasi court had rejected Hindu worshippers' plea for conducting a scientific probe of the 'Shivling'.

The Allahabad High Court on Friday allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct carbon dating of the 'Shivling' purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi Mosque complex, ANI reported. However, the court said there should not be any damages to the structure.

The court set aside an October 14 order of the Varanasi District Court that rejected a plea for scientific investigation, including carbon dating, of the 'Shivling', reportedly found inside Gyanvapi mosque complex on May 16, 2022.

Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra passed the order on a revision petition challenging the Varanasi court order, PTI reported. 

In their plea, the Hindu petitioners -- Laxmi Devi and three others, prayed "to make scientific investigation by carbon dating or otherwise to determine the age, nature and other constituents of the Shivlingam".

While the Hindu side has been calling the structure in question a 'Shivling', the Muslim side has maintained that the object was part of the water fountain mechanism at the 'wazookhana' reservoir where devotees carry out ablutions before offering namaz.

The ASI had submitted its report in a sealed envelope on Thursday.

In April, the Allahabad High Court had pulled up the ASI Director General (DG), V Vidyavathi, for her failure to file a reply, giving an opinion as to whether a safe evaluation of the age of the Shivling-like structure could be done or not.

Justice Mishra had called the ASI official's attitude "lethargic" and said inaction had hampered the court proceedings, a report in IANS said.

"Certainly, this lethargic attitude on the part of the Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, is highly deplorable and such practice must be deprecated. The desired report has not been submitted as directed since November 2022," the High Court had observed.

On May 16, 2022, a court-ordered videographic survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque was completed by a commission appointed by a local court. During the survey proceedings, a structure claimed to be a "shivling" by the Hindu side was found to be inside the mosque premises.