New Delhi: A local court bench headed by Additional District Judge Dinesh Kumar in Delhi's Saket will hear a petition seeking permission to worship inside the Qutub Minar complex on Wednesday. The petitioners, represented by advocate Harishankar Jain, had sought the right to worship inside the Qutub Minar by referring to the Supreme Court's decision in the Ayodhya case, citing Section 16 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act.
The petitioners have claimed that 27 Hindu and Jain temples were demolished for the construction of Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque was built inside the complex. Earlier, during the hearing on May 24 in support of the demand for worshiping in the Qutub Minar complex, advocate Harishankar Jain said that for the last eight hundred years the complex has not been used by Muslims either.
He referred to the Supreme Court's decision in the Ayodhya case, which said that the deity will always be a deity and that demolition will not destroy his character or his dignity. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has however submitted in the court a request to dismiss the plea, citing there is no provision for worship in the legally protected monument.
Also read: Plea filed for restoration of right to worship in Qutub Minar
When it took control of the monument, there was no worship there, the ASI said. On April 3, the court had directed the ASI not to remove the idols of Lord Ganesha kept in the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque premises in the Qutub Minar complex after petitioner said in the new application that the idols of Ganesh should not be displaced in the National Museum or any other place as per the norms.
The original lawsuit was filed in December 2020 on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu through advocates Hari Shankar Jain, Ranjana Agnihotri and Jitendra Singh Bisan. The plea states that Mamluk emperor Qutub-ud-din Aibak had dismantled 27 Hindu and Jain temples and constructed Qutub Minar inside the complex.
"Aibak was not able to raze the temples completely and had built a mosque on the temples' debris. The walls, terrace and pillars of the complex has sculptures of Hindu Gods and goddess built on them. The structure has Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, God Sun and Goddess Gauri and Jain Tirthankars and other constellations within the precincts of Qutub Minar," the plea said.
