The Supreme Court of India, seated in New Delhi, rebuffed any inclination to halt an investigation orchestrated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) aimed at delineating the religious essence of the Bhojshala compound located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Presided over by Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra, the bench solicited inputs from the Central Government, the administration of Madhya Pradesh, and the Hindu faction embroiled in the dispute. Sternly, the bench dictated that no intrusive excavation activities should transpire that might mar the structural integrity of the edifice. Moreover, they insisted on safeguarding the architectural integrity, declining to interdict the ASI’s investigative endeavor.
Explicitly, the apex court stipulated that no precipitate actions should unfold predicated on the findings of the ASI’s inquiry sans explicit authorization from the court itself.
March 22 saw the apex court dismissing a plea contesting an edict pronounced by the Madhya Pradesh High Court instructing the ASI to scrutinize Bhojshala, an ancient monument protected by law, dating back to the 11th century. This directive was issued by the High Court on March 11.
The exigency was brought to the attention of a judicial panel chaired by Justice Hrishikesh Roy, with a plea for immediate adjudication. The bench, in response, conveyed an inability to suspend the inquiry sans affording an audience to the opposing party. It was underscored that the issue was slated for adjudication on April 1, post the Holi recess. Notably, the bench remarked on the protracted nature of such surveys, pledging to tackle the matter forthright on the specified date.
The Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society petitioned the apex court registry seeking an expeditious audience, citing the imminent commencement of the ASI’s investigation on March 23, positing potential detriment to the monument under legal protection.
In May 2022, the Hindu Front for Justice lodged a petition with the High Court contesting the conduct of Islamic prayers at Bhojshala. The Hindu litigants beseeched the court to mandate a scrutiny to ascertain the “authentic religious identity” of Bhojshala.
The High Court, swayed by the evidence proffered by the petitioners in the form of vivid photographs depicting inscriptions in Sanskrit, authorized the ASI to conduct the survey.
A contingent from the ASI embarked on the investigation of the contentious locale situated in the tribal-dominated precincts of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh, pursuant to the High Court’s directive. The mandate of the survey is to validate whether the site is historically affiliated with Hinduism or Islam. While Hindus lay claim to the site as a sanctum of Goddess Saraswati, Muslims contend it to be the ‘Kamal Maula Mosque’.
The survey is underway, under strict surveillance facilitated by sixty cameras, with stringent prohibitions on unauthorized access to the premises. The Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, on March 11, decreed a scientific examination of Dhar’s Bhojshala, mirroring the precedent set by the investigation into the Gyanvapi mosque.
