New Delhi: A district court in Varanasi on Friday rejected the Hindu side’s plea seeking carbon dating and scientific investigation of an object that is purportedly a ‘Shivling’ in the Gyanvapi mosque complex, LiveLaw reported.
According to reports, the court rejected the plea in view of the Supreme Court’s May 17 order to protect the site where the object was found, while the mosque was being surveyed.
Any harm to the “Shivling” will also hurt religious sentiments and lessen the chances of a legal resolution of the dispute, the court said, NDTV reported.
The 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 namaz.
The claim was disputed by the Muslim side, which said the object was part of a “fountain”.
Arguments on the plea were completed on October 11.
During the arguments, 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. In such a situation, getting it examined cannot be justified, they had said.