Ajmer. The hearing of the case related to the claim of Shiva temple at Ajmer Dargah was postponed on Saturday. The civil court has now fixed August 30 for the next hearing. Prior to the hearing, additional police force was deployed near the court premises and Civil Lines Police Station. Advocate Yogendra Ojha said that the hearing was postponed due to the judicial officer being on leave and the judicial staff on a collective leave.
He said that the first application given by the Dargah Committee and the Department of Minority Affairs has been officially submitted and they will be debated in the next hearing.
Vishnu Gupta, the national president of the Hindu Army and a resident of Delhi, has filed a petition in the court. He has demanded that worship should be allowed in the Sankat Mochan Shiva temple located in the premises of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti in Ajmer Dargah.
Ajmer Dargah Committee and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) lawyers submitted separate applications that Gupta did not follow the necessary legal procedures before filing the case. Gupta claims that he has the ancient Sanskrit treatise ‘Prithviraj Vijay’ written in 1250 AD, which mentions the historical existence of the Shiva temple in Ajmer.
He has announced a plan to present the book in court, as well as its Hindi translation. He cited the place of worship act, saying that Ajmer Dargah does not come under the purview of this law, as it has been legally classified as “authorized religious site”.
He said that Supreme Court lawyer Varun Kumar Sena has earlier debated this law and he will present evidence in the court. Due to security concerns, Gupta has been given police protection on the instructions of SP Vandita Rana.
The Civil Court of Ajmer accepted the plea of Gupta on 27 November 2024 and issued notice to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Ajmer Dargah Committee and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). After this, many parties like Anjuman Committee, Dargah Diwan Ghulam Dastagir Ajmer, A.K. Imran (Bengaluru) and Raj Jain (Hoshiarpur, Punjab) filed applications to become a party in this case.
As of 24 January, two hearing in this case has been held. In his petition, Gupta cited the book ‘Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive’ published in 1911, written by retired judge Harbilas Sarada. The book claimed that the debris of a temple was used in the construction of the dargah. Also, it has been said that there was a Jain temple earlier in the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah and the surrounding area.
–
Also read – Click to read your state / city news before the newspaper
