Varanasi court allows ASI survey at Gyanvapi mosque: History of the dispute

A Varanasi court has allowed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque. The ‘wazukhana’, where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a ‘shivling’ exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier Supreme Court order related to the spot where Muslims perform ritual ablutions. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will conduct the survey and submit the final report by 4 August – on which day the next hearing is slated. Let’s take a closer look at the history of the dispute and examine carbon dating: History of dispute This is just the latest lawsuit.

The Gyanvapi Mosque itself has been at the centre of a dispute for decades.

In recent times, petitioners, who were local priests, in 1991 filed a petition at a Varanasi court asking for permission to worship within the complex. The petitioners maintained that the mosque was built upon the orders of Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath temple during his reign. That petition was dismissed in 1998, as per Outlook. The matter came into the limelight again in 2019 after the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict. A Varanasi-based lawyer, Vijay Shankar Rastogi, filed a petition in the lower court claiming illegality in the construction of Gyanvapi mosque. Rastogi sought an archaeological survey of the site. The Varanasi court thus directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out a survey and produce a report. However, the body that runs Gyanvapi mosque, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, along with the Sunni Central Waqf Board opposed the petition and the court’s order to survey the mosque. When the matter reached the Allahabad High Court, it ordered an interim stay on the direction of ASI for conducting the survey. The high court highlighted that as per the Places of Worship Act, 1991, any change in the religious character of a place of worship from as it existed on August 15, 1947, is prohibited. However, in March 2021, a Supreme Court bench headed by then Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, agreed to examine the validity of The Places of Worship Act. [caption id=“attachment_12892412” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Supreme Court of India[/caption] Then, on August 18, 2021, five Hindu women filed a petition in the Varanasi court seeking permission to worship the deities (Shringar Gauri, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Nandi) regularly, in addition to restricting opponents from harming the statues inside Gyanvapi structure. It is this case that was heard in court today. In April, 2022, hearing the case of the five women, the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Varanasi, Ravi Kumar Diwakar, ordered videography of the Shringar Gauri temple in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex and adjoining places. In May 2022, the survey began but stopped midway after a team of lawyers are denied entry inside the mosque. The Varanasi court said that the survey would continue and asked that it be completed and a report be submitted by 17 May. According to petitioners’ side, a Shivling had been found after water was drained out of a pond in the complex. The Varanasi district court subsequently ordered the district magistrate to seal the area where the Shivling had allegedly been found and prohibited the entry of any person to the area. In July, Justice DY Chandrachud of the Supreme Court stated that the court shall await the impending decision of the Varanasi District Judge on an application filed by Anjuman Intejamia Masjid, challenging the suit filed by five female petitioners seeking ‘darshan’ at Gyanvapi Mosque complex. Justice Chandrachud said that if the court ruled in the favour of Anjuman Intejamia Masjid, the suit undertaken by the women would organically ‘fall’ and if they ruled in favour of the plaintiff, then the caretakers could pursue other judicial redressal. In August, Vishvesh reserved his order until 12 September in the matter after both sides concluded their arguments. Advocate Shamim Ahmad, who represented the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee in the case, said the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf property and the court does not have the right to hear the matter. It was argued that only the Waqf Board has the right to hear any matter pertaining to the mosque. In September, Vishvesh dismissed the challenge by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee against the civil suits that challenged the title of the Gyanvapi mosque and the land surrounding it. As per Outlook, the court stated that that there is no question of Places of Worship Act barring this petition as merely prayer rights were being sought and the petition did not seek to change the religious character of the mosque. Four of the five Hindu petitioners then sought carbon dating of the ‘Shivling’. Meanwhile, the fifth petitioner did not join in out of fear the object would be harmed. The court had on 14 July reserved its order after hearing from both parties. The petition filed by the Hindu group had sought a direction to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the entire Gyanvapi mosque complex. The Muslims side had opposed the plea, saying an ASI survey could damage the complex. The court has directed that the scientific survey by ASI should take place between 8 and 12 am and, clarified that there will be no restrictions on namaz and no damage should be caused to the mosque. “I have been informed that my application has been approved and the court has directed to conduct an ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, excluding the Wazu tank which has been sealed,” lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque case said. “It’s a turning point in the case,” said advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, who is also representing Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case. What is carbon dating? Carbon dating, also known as radiocarbon dating, is a scientific technique. It allows researchers and scientists to measure the age of any object as old as 60,000 years. The scientific method was created in the 1940s by chemistry professor Willard Libby. Libby, who worked at the University of Chicago, would go on to receive the Nobel Prize for his work. But how does it work? The University of Chicago website explains: “It starts with cosmic rays—subatomic particles of matter that continuously rain upon Earth from all directions. When cosmic rays reach Earth’s upper atmosphere, physical and chemical interactions form the radioactive isotope carbon-14..” “Living organisms absorb this carbon-14 into their tissue. Once they die, the absorption stops, and the carbon-14 begins very slowly to change into other atoms at a predictable rate. By measuring how much carbon-14 remains, scientists can estimate how long a particular organic object has been dead.” However, as per Outlook, its application in measuring the age of non-living objects such as rocks is imperfect. With inputs from agencies