Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Amarnath Shivling is in the news again. The inquiry commission probing the allegations has given a clean chit to the Amarnath Shrine Board.
There were allegations that the ice shivling in Amarnath had been tampered with this year.
However, the one-man commission, comprising Justice K K Gupta, has failed to end the dispute for the report says that the local priests of Mattan and Ganneshpora in Kashmir, may have tampered with the ice stalagmite.
Says Justice KK Gupta, "Local priests tampering with the Shivling cannot be ruled out as this is something that they did previously too. Pandits (priests) from Mattan and Ganneshpora have been coming here with the yatris and the possibility of tampering is distinct."
The local priests, understandably, are livid at the allegation and the Martand trust, which had been the caretaker of the holy cave till 2001 when the Amarnath Shrine Board took over, says that the inquiry is one sided.
They want a fresh commission of inquiry comprising three sitting Supreme Court judges and are now contemplating approaching the Apex Court.
Says President Purohit Sabha Tirath Martand, Amarnath, Ashok Kumar Siddha, "This is a one sided report. The governor is the head of the shrine board and he appointed the inquiry commission, so how can we expect it to be fair? Also before 14 May, the Army, BSF and the CRPF were all present here. The shrine board took charge on 13 May, so how could any priest or anyone for that matter tamper with the Shivling?
The annual Amarnath yatra officially ended on August 10, but it will still be some time before the row associated with it settles down.
(With inputs from Saqib Malik in New Delhi)
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