Explained: All you need to know about Qutub Minar controversy
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday opposed a plea before a Delhi court claiming ownership of Qutub Minar property.
After the Gyanvapi mosque controversy, all eyeballs have now shifted to the construction and ownership of one of the tallest monuments of India, Qutub Minar. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday opposed a plea before a Delhi court claiming ownership of Qutub Minar property, according to news agency PTI.
The court, while hearing a plea claiming that the intervenor was a necessary party in an appeal seeking the restoration of deities inside the alleged temple complex within Qutub Minar property, said that the intervention petition was baseless and devoid of any logical or legal reasoning.
The petition was filed on June 9 this year, which claimed that Kunwar Mahender Dhwaj Pratap Singh was an heir of the United Province of Agra and the owner of lands in several cities in and around Delhi, including the property of Qutub Minar.
However, the ASI stated that the plea was insufficient to assert any right in the present appeal. It also said that the intervenor's claim of ownership of lands in and around Delhi was not raised before any court of law since 1947.
The ASI further said that the time to file a case for recovery had expired by several decades and no one raised objections and the period of limitation had lapsed many times when Qutub Minar was declared a protected monument in 1913 as per law, the ASI said, adding that the intervenor did not challenge the ownership of land and claim possession.
According to ASI, the objections could only be resolved by an independent suit along with the necessary parties as defendants for redressal of disputes, hence, the plea to be joined as a necessary party in the appeal is baseless.
Additional District Judge Dinesh Kumar posted the matter for further hearing on September 13 and provided last opportunity to the counsel to present the arguement.
How Qutub Minar controversy started?
A former ASI officer claimed that the Qutub Minar was not built by Qutb al-Din Aibak, and was actually built by Raja Vikramaditya to study the direction of the Sun.
Appeal suit alleging that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.
The suit, filed on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu (through their next of friends), seeks restoration of the alleged temple complex, comprising as many as 27 temples.
It claimed that according to ASI, 27 Hindu and Jain temples were demolished and Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was raised inside the complex reusing the materials and sought to "restore" the demolished temples. The suit sought to declare that Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Sun, Goddess Gauri, Lord Hanuman, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishab Dev have the right to be "restored" within the temple complex at the site of Quwwatul Mosque Complex, Mehrauli, south-west Delhi "after rebuilding it with the same honour and dignity."
It also sought to issue an injunction directing the Central government to create a trust, according to the Trust Act 1882, and hand over the management and administration of the temple complex situated within the area of Qutub Complex in Mehrauli after framing a scheme of the administration to such trust.
Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesman Vinod Bansal had earlier claimed that Delhi's famous monument Qutub Minar was actually "Vishnu Stambh."
Bansal also demanded all the 27 temples which were demolished in the past, be established again. "We demand that all the 27 temples, which were demolished at the site in the past, be rebuilt and Hindus are allowed to offer prayers there," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
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First Published:25 Aug 2022, 10:29 AM IST
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