The Varanasi district judge has denied the request of four Hindu women plaintiffs seeking carbon dating and scientific investigation of the structure, citing the Supreme Court's order to protect the location where a supposedly authentic 'shivling' was discovered in the Gyanvapi compound's ablution pond during the court commissioner's survey.
After district and sessions judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha pronounced his order, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Vishnu Jain, said that he would challenge it in the Supreme Court as the Varanasi court had cited the apex court while rejecting the plea.
The district judge’s order said: “Plaintiffs 2 to 5 have requested to allow carbon dating or other scientific investigation by using ground penetrating radar (GPR) of the ‘shivling’ found during the court commission survey on May 16 to determine its nature, shape and age. In its May 17 order, the SC had ordered to keep it protected. If carbon dating or ground-penetrating radar is permitted and it damages the ‘shivling’, it would be a violation of the May 17, 2022 order of the apex court. If it happens, it can also hurt people's religious sentiments. ”
The court stated that issuing a directive to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for this investigation “will be unfair” and “there is also no possibility of any judicial solution to the questions integrated to the case by issuing any order. Hence, this application is liable to be dismissed”.
The plea to carbon-date the ‘shivling’ (to ascertain its age) had been moved by four (Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak) of the five women plaintiffs who had earlier filed a petition seeking the right to worship Shringar Gauri and other deities in the Gyanvapi compound (Case No. 18/2022).
