Delhi court dismisses intervention plea in Qutub Minar complex

HT Correspondent letters@hindustantimes

HT Correspondent

The Qutub Minar in Delhi. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi: An application by a man who claimed that the land on which the Qutub Minar complex stands was his ancestral property has been rejected by a Delhi court, clearing the path to resume hearing the pleas that sought restoration of the right to worship for Hindus and Jains at the Quwwat-Ul-Islam mosque.

Additional district judge Dinesh Kumar said that the arguments on the main suit will start on October 19. A detailed order is awaited.

The man, Kunwar Mahendra Dhawaj Prasad Singh filed an application claiming to be the heir of the ruler of the United Province of Agra and claimed a right over the property where the mosque stands.

In his application, Singh said he is the heir of Raja Rohini Raman Dhawaj Prasad Singh who died in the year 1950. According to him, the Beswan family descended from Raja Nand Ram who had died in 1695.

He claimed that the Beswan Avibajya Rajya Beswan Estate Hathras Estate, Musran Estate and Brindaban Estate from Mahabharata Period, which included areas from Meerut, Agra, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Gurugram between the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers continued to be inherited for generations from 1873 to 1950. This, according to the plea, also meant that his family holds all the territories of the United Province of Agra.

The court had earlier in June said that without hearing the application it cannot decide the right to worship at the Quwwat-Ul-Islam mosque.

Last week, the court had reserved its order on the application as the ASI urged the judge to impose costs on the plea arguing that it was a publicity stunt and that he wasted its time.

During court proceedings, the Archeological Survey of India trashed the application and asked the judge to impose costs on the man for wasting the court’s time, saying it was just a publicity stunt.

ASI has also opposed the original request for revival of worship, underlining that the 12th-century monument and a World Heritage Site was not a place for prayers, nor can it be revived as one under the law. It also stressed that no community has worshipped at Qutub Minar or anywhere inside the complex after it was notified as a protected monument in 1914.

The counsel for the intervenor said that his client was the heir of the ruler of the United Province of Agra from the 16th century onwards, of the territory between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna.

He further said that the government had encroached upon the entire area and even as three petitions regarding the matter were pending in the High Court of Allahabad, the intervenor had made representation to the Prime Minister, President and authorities concerned to settle his “constitutional dispute”.

Advocate Hari Shankar Jain and Ranjana Agnihotri filed a petition on behalf of Jain Tirthankar Rishabh Dev and Hindu god Vishnu. The petition cited a short history purportedly displayed by ASI which, according to the plea, narrates how 27 temples were demolished and the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was raised by reusing the material.