New Delhi: A Rajasthan court on Wednesday accepted a plea filed by Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta, who claimed that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah is actually a Shiva temple. A lower court in Ajmer has issued notices to three institutions in response to a case claiming that there is a Shiva temple on the premises of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti’s dargah.
The court, presided over by Civil Judge Manmohan Chandel, is hearing the case, which seeks to restore Hindu worship at the site.
Advocate Yogesh Saroja, representing the plaintiff, said notices have been sent to the Ajmer Dargah Committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in New Delhi.
The parties have been asked to provide their responses to the claims made in the lawsuit filed in September.
Plaintiff Vishnu Gupta has demanded that the dargah be declared as “Sankat Mochan Mahadev Mandir”. He further insisted that an ASI-led survey of the site be conducted to determine its historical and religious significance.
Gupta also called for the cancellation of any existing registrations related to the dargah and insisted that Hindus be given the right to worship there.
“Our demand was that the dargah in Ajmer should be declared as Sankat Mochan Mahadev Mandir and if there is any registration of the dargah, it should be cancelled. It should be surveyed by the ASI and Hindus should be given the right to worship there,” Gupta said in his plea.
The next hearing will be held on December 20.
Reacting to the court’s verdict, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh cited the 1991 Houses of Worship Act and demanded the Supreme Court’s immediate intervention.
“The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India should immediately intervene in this matter. The Places of Worship Act, 1991 clearly states that all religious structures, whether of any religion – Hinduism or Islam – on August 15, 1947. The latter should remain the same. The mosque begins under the temple. PM Modi and the BJP want the whole country to fight and that’s why I say Bharatiya Jhagra Party,” said Sanjay Singh. .
The development comes amid ongoing violence in Sambhal that left four people, including policemen, dead and several injured, after a local court ordered a survey of a mosque allegedly built on an ancient temple.