Qutub Minar Complex In Delhi To Be Excavated Amid Gyanvapi Row? Here’s What Govt Said

Union Minister of Culture GK Reddy responded to reports that Centre has ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct excavation in the Qutub Minar complex in Delhi.

New Delhi: Even as reports emerged that the Centre had given a go-ahead for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct excavation in the Qutub Minar complex in Delhi amid Gyanvapi row, Union Minister of Culture GK Reddy on Sunday clarified over the government’s stand. Reddy said no such decision has been taken by the government for now.

“No such decision has been taken,” GK Reddy said, according to a report by India Today.

Earlier, a row erupted after a former Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) ex-Regional Director Dharamveer Sharma claimed that the “Qutub Minar was constructed by Hindu emperor Raja Vikramaditya and not by Qutb al-Din Aibak, to study the direction of the sun”, the report stated.

On February 22, a Delhi court issued notice on an appeal filed against the rejection of a suit alleging that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.

Allowing the appeal, Additional District Judge Pooja Talwar issued notice to the Union of India through the Ministry of Culture, Director General of Archaeological Survey of India, and Superintending Archaeologist, Delhi Circle, ASI.

The civil suit, filed on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu (through their next of friends), was seeking restoration of the alleged temple complex, comprising of as many as 27 temples.

As per the suit, the temples were dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command of Slave Dynasty Emperor Qutub-Din-Aibak, who raised some construction at the same very place and named it the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque.

The ruler failed to completely demolish the existing temples and only partial demolition was carried out and after reusing the material of the temples, the said mosque was erected, it read.

In December last year, Civil Judge Neha Sharma had noted that the plaintiffs have no absolute right to restore and worship in the property as public order which is an exception under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution. This requires status quo be maintained and the protected monument be used for no religious purpose.

It is also an established fact that Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid was built atop existing temples but the property was not being used for any religious purposes and no prayers were being offered here.

The court had observed that wrongs may have been committed in the past, “but such wrongs cannot be the basis for disturbing peace of our present and future”.

Gyanvapi row

The Supreme Court on Friday transferred proceedings of the suit by Hindu parties seeking worshipping rights at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque to the district judge, while ordering its May 17 interim order to protect the ‘Shivling’, purportedly discovered during the survey, and free access to Muslims for ‘namaz’ should continue. A bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices Surya Kant and P.S. Narasimha, said the District Judge will decide the matter on priority.

The bench said taking in view of complexity of the issues involved in the suit and the sensitivity, the suit before Civil Judge, Senior Division, Varanasi should be tried before a senior and experienced judicial officer of the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service. It said the May 17 interim order will remain operational for eight weeks, after the District Judge’s decision in the matter, so as allow the aggrieved party to appeal against the decision.

The bench noted that the District Judge has an experience close to 30 years and would be able to handle the matter. Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing the Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varanasi, contended that the status quo of 500 years had already changed by sealing the premises and added that the status quo, which existed before, must continue. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing in July.