Bhojshala dispute: Hindu petitioner challenges ASI's 2003 order, wants exclusive right of worship

A Hindu petitioner on Friday argued before the Madhya Pradesh High Court that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) should be asked to restore the ''original religious character'' of the Bhojshala complex, and only Hindus be allowed to worship there. The Hindu community considers Bhojshala in Dhar district to be originally a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, while the Muslim side claims it is 'Kamal Maula Mosque'. The disputed complex is protected by the ASI. Vishnu Shankar Jain, lawyer for the Hindu Front for Justice, one of the petitioners, challenged the ASI's April 7, 2003 order before Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi of the Indore bench on Friday. As per the ASI's 2003 order, Hindus are allowed to worship at the complex every Tuesday and Muslims can offer prayers every Friday. Jain said the order blatantly violated the The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. The Act clearly states that a protected monument which is a place of worship or shrine shall not be used for any purpose inconsistent with its character, the lawyer said. ''The system implemented based on the ASI's 2003 order violates not only our right to worship but also our fundamental rights,'' Jain said, adding that the ASI has a statutory obligation to act in accordance with the disputed monument's ''original religious character.'' He also rejected the Muslim side's objection that the public interest litigation filed by the Hindu Front for Justice regarding the Bhojshala dispute is essentially a civil suit, and should be tried in a civil court. ''This is not a civil suit and there are no disputed questions of fact,'' said advocate Jain. The Muslim side has argued that the disputed monument in Dhar existed as a mosque on August 15, 1947, the day of India's independence, and therefore, its religious character cannot be changed under the provisions of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. Jain countered this argument saying that the law does not apply to Bhojshala because it is a monument protected by the ASI. Manish Gupta, the lawyer representing Kuldeep Tiwari, another Hindu petitioner, claimed that unlike a typical mosque, the disputed monument does not have a minaret or a ''vazukhana'' (a place for washing hands and face before prayer). He also rejected the claim that Bhojshala was a Jain temple, saying that the monument is a Saraswati temple established in 1034 by King Bhoj of the Parmar dynasty. The next hearing in the case will be on May 11. The Madhya Pradesh high court has been hearing five petitions and one writ appeal since April 6 regarding the religious nature of the Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex.

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