Apex court accepts Centre’s plan to rebuild Ravidas temple

NEWDELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for the reconstruction of the temple of Guru Ravidas , revered by Dalits, in south Delhi, on a 400 square metre plot of land — at the same site where a Ravidas temple was demolished in August because it was located in a protected forest.

That demolition itself happened on the order of the apex court and attracted the ire of Dalit groups.

A bench of justices Arun Mishra and Ravindra Bhatt also ordered the release of people arrested for protesting the demolition and quashed all cases against them . The bench said all arrested will have to give an undertaking to be “good citizens”. The apex court ordered the demolition of the shrine after the Delhi Development Authority informed it that the structure was located in a protected forest area. Massive protests broke out in some parts of Punjab and south

Delhi’s Tughlaqabad over the demolition. The top court took strong exception to the rampage on the streets by the devotees of Guru Ravidas and had issued a stern warning against the “unruly protests”. SC first ordered the temple to be vacated this April, and ordered the Guru Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti to hand over possession to DDA. In August, the court was told by this body that the premises had been vacated. Later, when the court later heard that it had been misled, it ordered DDA to remove the structure by August 10, under police protection.

Following the demolition, a writ petition was filed by the devotees of Guru Ravidas. The court then asked attorney general KK Venugopal to explore the possibility of a settlement. Venugopal, on October 18, submitted a memorandum under which the Centre offered to allocate 200 sq-m land for the temple.