Qutub Minar not a place of worship, ASI tells court
NEW DELHI: Qutub Minar is not a place of worship, nor can it be revived as one under the laws of the land, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told a Delhi court, which reserved its order for June 9 on pleas seeking to restore the right to worship for Hindus and Jains at the Quwwat-ul-islam mosque in the monument’s premises.
While taking on record ASI’S objections to the lawsuits, the Delhi court wondered whether the petitioners could today assert any legal or fundamental right to worship, assuming 27 temples existed about 800 years back. “Now, you want this monument to be turned into a temple, calling it restoration. My question is, how would you claim that the plaintiffs have a legal right assuming it existed about 800 years back? On a lighter note, the deity has survived for the last 800 years without worship. Let him survive like that,” additional district judge Nikhil Chopra told advocate Hari Shankar Jain, who is one of the petitioners in the case.
The judge sought a legal argument to substantiate whether there is any denial of a right to the petitioners if a status quo exists in the Qutub Minar complex.
“Even if assuming there is an admission that it (Hindu and Jain religious structures) was demolished and the structure was raised at that spot...assuming it wasn’t used by Muslims as a mosque, the question which is more important is can you now claim it to be restored on what basis?” the court asked.
The arguments before the additional district judge followed an affidavit filed by ASI, which opposed the pleas for the revival of worship, adding that no community has worshipped at Qutub Minar or anywhere inside the complex since the time it has been a protected monument.
“Fundamental right cannot be availed in violation of any status of the land. The basic principle of protection/conservation is not to allow starting of any new practice in a monument declared and notified as a protected one,” the ASI told the court.
According to the affidavit, Qutub Minar has been a protected monument since 1914, and therefore, it comes under the protection of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR) Act, 1958.
ASI’S reply was filed in response to a petition filed by advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Ranjana Agnihotri on behalf of Jain tirthankar Rishabh Dev and Hindu god Vishnu. The petition cited a short history purportedly displayed by ASI which, according to the plea, narrates how 27 temples were demolished by Qutbuddin Aibak, a general in Mohamad Ghori’s army, and the Quwwat-ul-islam Mosque was raised by reusing the material.
The petitioner urged the court to direct the Centre to create a trust for managing the temples that should be restored at the disputed site, and hand over management of the temples to it.
The plea claimed that Qutub Minar premises has “clear pictures of Hindu Gods and deities like Shri Ganesh, Vishnu and Yaksha” and several symbols like kalash and sacred lotus, along with temple wells, which suggest a “Hindu origin of the building”.
In November, a civil judge dismissed the suit, saying that wrongs of the past cannot be used as the instruments to oppress in present and future. However, the plaintiffs filed appeals against the order before an additional district court, and a notice was issued in February to the Centre and ASI.
Considering the appeals, the additional district court on Tuesday observed that the fundamental question in the pleas is about the “character of the monument” since ASI has argued that the character of the mosque was frozen after it came under protection of law, while the petitioners had claimed that the religious character must be considered since this was a temple.