A court in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh has asked the Muslim side to file its reply by October 11 on the ‘Shivling carbon dating’ argument. The statement from the court came after an application was admitted last month regarding carbon dating of a structue found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex. It is being claimed by the Hindu petitioners that the structure is “Shivling”.
The Muslim side had also been directed by the Varanasi District Court to submit their objections last month. When the Hindu petitioners’ request for permission to carbon date the Shivling-like structure discovered on the Gyanvapi mosque compound, walls, and other structures on the masjid complex was accepted by district judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesh, the court issued notice and requested a response from the Muslim side.
But later, one of the Hindu litigants appeared to be protesting, indicating that there was split among them. One of the five female claimants in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi complex dispute, Rakhi Singh, claimed that carbon dating the Shivling was an insult to religion and feelings of Sanatani Hindus.
It might be viewed as a “act of sacrilege,” according to Jitendra Singh Bisen, head of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Singh and a representative of Rakhi Singh. He had said, “It’s like casting doubt on Shivling’s very existence.”
The original lawsuit in the sensitive Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi complex case called for the restoration of the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple at the location where the Gyanvapi Mosque now stands. Five female Hindu petitioners asserted that the mosque is a portion of the temple in the lawsuit.
In the meantime, on September 29, the Allahabad High Court issued a temporary stay on a Varanasi court ruling until October 31 in order to allow the Archaeological Survey of India to survey the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi.
