GO TO LOWER COURT: ADJ COURT TO HINDU LITIGANTS
The court of additional district judge on Tuesday ordered Hindu litigants to appeal in lower court regarding their plea for survey of the Teele Wali Masjid and fixed July 2 as next date for further hearing in the case. Hindu litigants had claimed that Masjid was ‘Lakshman Teela’ constructed by Lakshman, younger brother of lord Ram. Originally, lawyer Hari Shankar Jain had filed this case in civil court in Lucknow in 2013 seeking survey of the mosque. The case has been pending since then.
Lakshman. The ‘Gufa’, Tandon’s book claims, was demolished during Alauddin Khilji’s reign while the mosque came up over the ‘ Teela’ during Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tenure.
The same year, there was also a demand regarding installation of a Lakshman statue in front of the Tile Wali Masjid and a proposal was submitted to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation by BJP corporators.
Now, with the Kashi- Mathura issues under the spotlight, the Tile Wali Masjid too has attracted attention once more, with right wingers seeking its survey, accusing the mosque
administration of destroying evidence related to Hindu religion present there. “It’s a known fact that Lucknow was named after Lakshman and the mound on which the Tile Wali Masjid is presently located, used to be known as Lakshman Tila. There used to be a grand temple. I am sure the experts will find the remains of the temples if an excavation drive is carried out on the mound,” says Amit Puri, a senior BJP leader.
The ‘mosque over temple’ claim was dismissed by Maulana Wasif Hasan, co-mutwalli Tile Wali Masjid, who said that the claims were less historically and