The mosque inside the Qutub Minar complex was constructed by demolishing 27 Hindu and Jain temples
The mosque inside the Qutub Minar complex was constructed by demolishing 27 Hindu and Jain temples
A Saket court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a civil suit seeking “restoration” of alleged Hindu and Jain temple complexes within the Qutub Minar complex in south Delhi.
Additional District Judge Nikhil Chopra has now posted the next hearing for May 24. The civil suit, filed by Hindu and Jain devotees, claims that the “Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque” was allegedly built by demolishing 27 Hindu and Jain temples and using materials from ruined structures.
After the petitioners claimed in their suit that images of Hindu deities like Ganesha were still visible on the structures within the Qutub Minar complex, the court had issued a notice to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The ASI, in its arguments, had told the court that it was neither planning nor intending to remove any structure from within the premises. Taking this contention on record, the court then ordered status quo to be maintained in the said premises.
Earlier, Additional District Judge Neha Sharma had dismissed the case in November last year. In April this year, after another suit was filed, the matter was transferred to the court of ADJ Chopra.
Hari Shankar Jain and advocate Ranjana Agnihotri filed the suit saying that they did it as “next friends” and devotees of the Jain god Lord Rishabh Dev and the Hindu god Lord Vishnu. According to Ms Agnihotri, other Hindu and Jain devotees have also joined the suit.
Claiming that the information was from the ASI, the suit states, “There existed huge and tall Hindu and Jain temples of Lord Vishnu and Lord Rishabh Dev with Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Lord Surya, and Goddess Gauri and Jain Tirthankaras With the constellations, within the premises of Dhruva/Meru Dhwaja/Meru Tower now known as Qutub Minar/Qutub Tower”.
The suit also claimed that the Qutub Minar complex contained “clear images of Hindu gods and goddesses such as Shri Ganesh, Vishnu and Yaksha” and several symbols such as Kalash and the sacred lotus, along with the temple wells, which suggest the “Hindu origins of the building”.
It states, “Only the faces of gods and goddesses have been broken and destroyed, but the idols are recognizable.”