The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to make arrangements for sending a sample to be drawn from the blank page of a two cm tall and 1.5 cm wide handwritten antique Quran, to the University of Oxford for ascertaining its approximate age.
Justices N. Kirubakaran and P. Velmurugan ordered that the sample should be forwarded to the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at the Oxford University within three weeks after drawing two samples without causing any serious damage to the holy book that had already been declared an antique.
The judges also ordered that the second sample drawn from the blank page, found at the end of the holy book should be forwarded simultaneously to the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh for carrying out procedures such as carbon dating to find out the precise age of the book.
The orders were passed on a writ appeal preferred by ASI against similar directions issued by a single judge of the court on a writ petition filed in 2017 by 57-year-old A.M.S. Ameenullah of Nidur in Mayiladuthurai Taluk of Nagapattinam district who was in possession of the holy book and wanted to know its exact age.
Rejecting the contention of ASI that drawing samples would amount to damaging the holy book that had been classified as an antique under the Antiques and Art Treasures Act of 1972, the judges said, there was no other way to ascertain its age since it would not be safe to allow the entire book to be taken out of the country.
In his affidavit, Mr. Ameenullah had stated, “As a young boy, I was asked by an elderly Mohameddan living in my area to safeguard the said holy Quran as it is an invaluable object and I have been doing so till date.” He claimed to have got the book registered with the archaeology department of the State government.
The department had issued a certificate stating that the book was more than 100 years old. On the contrary, a Government Museum had issued a certificate stating that it belongs to the 17th century. Hence, in order to ascertain its exact age, the petitioner sought the permission of ASI to take it to the University of Oxford. Such request was rejected on March 23, 2017, on the ground that the safety of the antique could not be compromised by allowing it to be taken to a foreign country and hence he had filed the writ petition.
