Supreme Court's Decision on Gyanvapi Mosque: Unveiling the Mystery of the Object - Is it a Shiva Linga or Fountain?

The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a plea challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court allowing a scientific investigation to ascertain whether the object found during the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises is a Shiva linga or a fountain. 

Latest Development in this Case:

On 19th May 2023, the Supreme Court deferred for the time being the directions of the Allahabad High Court allowing a scientific investigation to ascertain whether the object found during the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises is a Shiva linga or a fountain. 
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha passed the order deferring the High Court directions for the time being. The Court also sought the responses of the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments to the appeal filed by Muslim party challenging the High Court direction.
The Court also made clear that the implications of the directions in the High Court order would merit closer scrutiny, thus it stands deferred till the next hearing. 

The Judgement is given at the end of this post.

The case was mentioned before a bench comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala by Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi representing the Muslim party in the matter.

The order was passed on May 12 by Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra-I of the High Court. The order allowed scientific investigation after scrutinizing a report submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). 

The court observed that the report forwarded by the Superintending Archaeologist, ASI Sarnath Circle, Sarnath, Varanasi, would make it feasible and convenient that scientific investigation can be made to the extent and purport without causing harm to the site/Shivlingam in issue. This would ensure the actual site of the Shivlingam remains preserved and protected.

The technical and scientific report of the ASI has opened ways for carrying out scientific investigation of the Shivlinga without causing any damage to the structure in question. The Supreme Court has agreed to list the case for hearing tomorrow.

The case began when Hindu devotees approached a civil court seeking the right to worship inside Gyanvapi Mosque, claiming that it was a Hindu temple and still houses Hindu deities. An advocate commissioner was appointed to survey the Mosque and submitted a report to the civil court. The report stated that an object similar in appearance to a Shivling was found. The matter was later transferred to the District Court, Varanasi on orders passed by the Supreme Court.

On October 14 last year, the District Court passed an order rejecting a plea for scientific investigation to ascertain whether the object was a Shivling or a fountain, as claimed by the respondents. The order of the District Court was challenged before the High Court on the ground that it wrongly presumed that a scientific investigation in the form of carbon dating or use of a ground penetrating radar would harm or damage the object.

The High Court ruled in favour of the Hindu party and set aside the order of the District Court. It directed the District Judge, Varanasi to proceed in the case and do scientific investigation of the Shivlinga under aegis and guidance of the ASI. This led to the present plea before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will now decide whether to uphold the High Court order and allow the scientific investigation or to set aside the order and reject the plea. The outcome of the case is of immense importance to both the Hindu and Muslim parties and will have far-reaching consequences.

Latest Judgement on this Case from Supreme Court of India