Gyanvapi row: Muslim side told to reply by Oct 11 on shivling-carbon dating plea

A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Friday told the Muslim side to file its reply by October 11 after admitting an application last month that sought carbon dating of a structure found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The Hindu petitioners have claimed the structure to be “shivling”.

The Varanasi district court had last month also asked the Muslim side to file its objections. “Our plea seeking permission for carbon dating of the Shivling-like structure found on the Gyanvapi mosque compound, walls and other structures on the masjid complex was admitted in the court of district judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesh after which the court has issued notice and has sought reply of the Muslim side,” the Hindu petitioners had said at the time.

Later, however, there seemed to be a division among the Hindu plaintiffs as one of them registered a protest. Rakhi Singh, one of the five women plaintiffs in the Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi complex case, had said that carrying out “carbon dating of the Shivling is an anti-religion act and a mockery of the feelings and beliefs of all Sanatanis (Hindus)”.

Jitendra Singh Bisen, chief of Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Singh and representative of Rakhi Singh, had said it could be considered as “act of sacrilege”. “It is like putting a question mark on the existence of Shivling,” he had said.

The Shringar Gauri-Gyanvapi complex case has been a sensitive matter in which the original suit sought the restoration of the ancient Kashi Vishwanath Temple at the site where the Gyanvapi Mosque currently stands. In the suit, five women Hindu petitioners claimed that the mosque is a part of the temple.

Meanwhile, on September 29, the Allahabad high court had extended an interim stay till October 31 on a Varanasi court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex.