Varanasi: In a major setback to the Hindu side, a Varanasi court on Friday rejected a plea for carbon dating of the fountain structure in Gyanvapi mosque, which they claimed to be ‘Shivling’, PTI reported.

The court rejected the plea moved by the Hindu worshippers while maintaining the Supreme Court’s May 17 order to protect the disputed site inside the mosque complex. The Muslim side had opposed the demand saying there was no need of any carbon dating or any other scientific investigation of the structure.

Meanwhile, Advocate Vishnu Jain, who is representing the Hindu parties in the Gyanvapi case, said they will soon approach the Supreme Court and challenge the district court’s order on the carbon dating issue.

Court has rejected our demand of seeking carbon dating. We'll move to Supreme Court against this order & challenge it there. I cannot announce the date as of now, but we'll soon challenge this order in Supreme Court: Advocate Vishnu Jain, representing the side in Gyanvapi case pic.twitter.com/DOkGwVy8w8
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) October 14, 2022

The district court had reserved its verdict following the completion of hearing of arguments from both Hindu and Anjuman Islamia Committee sides. The Hindu plaintiff also demanded the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

In its May 20 order, the Supreme Court had directed to seal and preserve the area (near wazoo khana of mosque) and in the case if any activity is carried out in the area it will be in violation of the order of the apex court.

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It may be recalled here that on May 16, the lower court had directed the district administration to seal a spot in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex after lawyers from Hindu side claimed a Shivling was found during a court-mandated videography survey.