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Agra court moved against Shah Jahan ‘Urs’ and free entry to Taj
The court of IV Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) Room No. 4 on civil court premises has fixed March 4 as the next date in the case. Summons will be served on the defendant through ameen (court messenger) in the case, according to counsel for petitioner Anil Kumar Tewari.
Agra With the three- day ‘Urs’ of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to be organised at Taj Mahal a mere couple of days away, the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has filed a petition in a court here, seeking prohibitory injunction to stop the organisers from holding the ‘Urs’ at Taj Mahal. The petitioner has also challenged free entry for ‘Urs’ at Taj Mahal.
The court of IV Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) Room No. 4 on civil court premises has fixed March 4 as the next date in the case. Summons will be served on the defendant through ameen (court messenger) in the case, according to counsel for petitioner Anil Kumar Tewari.
The court has ordered for issuing notice to the celebration committee which organises the ‘Urs’ - a tradition continuing since long. This year’s Urs to be held on February 6 is the 369th ‘Urs’ of Emperor Shah Jahan who got Taj Mahal constructed in 1653 on the bank of river Yamuna here .
Right wing organisations, including Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, have been claiming that Taj Mahal is a Shiva Temple called ‘Tejo Mahalaya’ and have been objecting to celebration of events like ‘Urs’ there . The matter had been raised before various courts and a suit is pending in Agra court on this issue. The high court of Allahabad had refused to accept petitions with such claims by right wing organisations and individuals, in the recent past.
This is the first time that a court of law has been asked to interfere and stop the ‘Urs’ at Taj Mahal. However, the petitioner, Meena Diwakar, division head of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) has not made any claim about the of Taj being a temple and has challenged the authority of the committee organising the ‘Urs’ and free entry at Taj during the event , despite having no concern with Taj Mahal.
‘The committee organising the ‘Urs’ is publicly claiming that there will be no entry fee for Taj Mahal during the event for three days. The defendant, celebrating committee headed by Sayyad Ibrahim Zaidi has no authority, concern nor any valid permission of competent authority,” alleged Sanjay Jat, spokesperson of ABHM in Agra.
‘The petitioner, ABHM through its divisional head Meena Diwakar and district president Saurabh Sharma, has sought permanent prohibitory injunction against the committee celebrating the “Urs’ so as to stop them (committee) from organising the three-day event. The petitioner has also objected to free entry to Taj Mahal for the Urs,”’ stated Anil Kumar Tewari, counsel for the petitioner. ‘The court of IV Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) Agra has fixed March 4 as next date in the case. An ‘ameen’ (court messenger) will serve the summons on defendant on urgent basis and thereafter we might seek shorter date in case,” he said .
