The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the Allahabad high court order for a scientific survey to determine the age of a structure inside Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex that Hindus insist is a Shivling, and Muslims say is part of a fountain.
“Since the implications of the impugned order merit closer scrutiny, the implementation of the directions concerned in the order shall stand deferred till the next date,” directed a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, fixing the next hearing in July.
Also read: Amid Gyanvapi dispute, how carbon dating works, and when it doesn’t
“These are matters one has to tread very carefully,” added the bench, which also comprised justices PS Narasimha and KV Viswanathan. It suspended the high court order on an appeal filed by the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, complaining that the impugned directive was premature since the issues were yet to be framed in the civil suit concerned.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government as well as the Centre, also preferred putting the order on hold, submitting that the survey ordered by the high court may cause some damage to the structure in question. Mehta added that it would be in fitness of things for the apex court to adjudicate the matter by itself.
Taking on record the S-G’s submissions, the bench proceeded to put on hold the high court order passed on May 12, and agreed to hear the aspect of the scientific survey along with the main case filed by the mosque management committee, which has also challenged the order of survey by a Varanasi civil court that led to the discovery of the purported Shivling inside the mosque complex last year.
On May 12, the Allahabad high court set aside a Varanasi district court order rejecting a demand for carbon dating of the structure found inside the Gyanvapi Masjid complex and asked the district judge to proceed in accordance with law on the application by Hindu worshippers for conducting a scientific probe of the structure found during a survey last year.
The high court allowed the revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and three others challenging the Varanasi court order that rejected the demand for carbon dating in October 2022. Carbon dating is a method of calculating the age of very old objects by measuring amount of different forms of carbon in them. But as HT pointed out in an explainer on Friday, it cannot be used in the case of rocks.
On Friday, senior Huzefa Ahmedi, representing the mosque management committee, pressed for an urgent order before the Supreme Court since the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) scientific survey, including carbon dating, of the structure, is expected to begin its exercise on May 22.
At this, the bench asked Mehta if the court should examine this issue carefully.
“Yes, my lord…There should be no damage to the structure, which one side claims to be a Shivling while the other calls it a fountain. I am not getting into the nature of the structure but there should be no damage to it,” Mehta responded.
To this, advocate Vishnu Jain, who appeared for the Hindu plaintiffs in the matter, contended that the high court order itself said that there should be no damage caused to the structure. “Experts of ASI have informed the court that the structure will not be damaged at all,” argued Jain, adding the bench may ask for a report in this regard from ASI.
The bench replied that there are implications of the scientific survey. “We are not averse to calling for a report. But let the state and the Centre consider the situation. They will also consult the ASI. Let the government consider all options. These are matters one has to tread very carefully,” it added.
The flurry of petitions in the Gyanvapi case underlines why the government needs to make its stance clear on the 1991 Places of Worship Act, and for the Supreme Court to weigh in on it. The 1991 law locks the religious character of holy sites as it existed on August 15, 1947 (except the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid case) but some of the recent petitioners have argued that the law doesn’t apply to their prayers.
Also read: 3 pleas seek ASI survey of entire Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi dispute dates back decades but in August 2021, five women filed a petition in a local court demanding the right of unhindered worship at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, located inside the complex that houses idols of Hindu gods. In April 2022, the local court ordered a controversial survey of the complex, which quickly ran into protests. The survey was finally completed in May, but not before the Hindu side claimed that a Shivling was found in the final hours of the exercise. The court clamped security on the entire complex even as the Muslim side argued that the structure found was a ceremonial ablution fountain.
The case finally reached the Supreme Court, which on May 20, 2022 transferred the suit from the Varanasi civil judge to the district judge and protected the site. In September, the district court ruled that the pleas by the Hindu women were maintainable. In September 2022, four of the five women filed a plea seeking carbon dating or scientific investigation of the structure, the complex walls and the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal. The plea was opposed not only by the mosque committee but also one of the Hindu petitioners, Rakhi Singh, who called the plea a publicity stunt and said that carbon dating of the ‘Shivling’ would be an act of sacrilege. On October 14, the district court rejected the plea, citing Supreme Court directives to keep the premises sealed, prompting the Hindu plaintiffs to move the high court that allowed it.
