Gyanvapi case: 5 women had sought scientific investigation at the mosque complex.
There will be no carbon dating to determine the age of what is said to be a "Shivling" at Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque, the city's top judge ruled, rejecting a request by a group of women - Shiva devotees - who want to pray inside the mosque complex.
Following are the 10 biggest developments in this story:
- The "Shivling" or relic of Lord Shiva was found earlier this year during a court-ordered video survey at the Gyanvapi mosque on a petition by five women. The women want access to a shrine inside the mosque, which is located next to the famous Kashi Viswanath temple. That case is still being heard.
- A Varanasi court said today that scientific investigations, including carbon dating, would violate a Supreme Court order to protect the "Shivling" and seal the area where it stands.
- Damage to the "Shivling" would also hurt religious sentiments and reduce the chances of a legal solution to the dispute, the court said. The women devotees have decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.
- Earlier this year, a lower court in Varanasi ordered the filming of the centuries-old mosque based on the women's petition.
- The women claim that ancient idols of Hindu gods and goddesses are located inside the mosque and have sought the right to pray before the "visible and invisible deities" in the complex.
- The videography report, controversially leaked, claimed a "Shivling" was found in a pond used for "Wazoo" or the mandatory purification rituals before Muslim prayers.
- Four of the five women had requested scientific tests to establish the age of the "Shivling".
- The mosque committee objected to any investigation, arguing that the case was about worshipping at a shrine inside the mosque and had nothing to do with its structure.
- On September 12, the Varanasi district judge dismissed a challenge by the mosque committee that argued that the case by the women has no legal standing.
- The Gyanvapi mosque, located in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, is on the list of mosques that Hindu hardliners believe were built on the ruins of temples. It was one of the three temple-mosque rows, besides Ayodhya and Mathura, which the BJP raised in the 1980s and 1990s.
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