Gyanvapi row: Muslim side told to reply on shivling-carbon dating plea by Oct 11
Gyanvapi mosque row: The Varanasi district court had asked the Muslim side to file its objections to the plea earlier.
A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Friday told the Muslim side to file its reply by October 11, days after it admitted 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 court asked us to clarify on two points - whether the structure found inside the mosque is a part of this suit property or not? Secondly, can the court issue a commission for scientific inquiry? We have submitted our reply," Advocate Vishnu Jain, representing the Hindu side in the case, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "We said that it is part of our suit property and by virtue of Order 26 Rule 10A of CPC (Civil Procedure Code), the court has the power to direct scientific investigation. The Muslim side has sought some time to reply. The matter will now be heard on October 11," he added.
The Varanasi district court had last month asked the Muslim side to file its objections after the admission of the plea.
The Hindu side had said its plea sought "permission for carbon dating of the Shivling-like structure found on the Gyanvapi mosque compound, walls and other structures on the masjid complex".
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.
(With inputs from ANI)
