Court issues notice over claim of temple inside Ajmer dargah

A Rajasthan court on Wednesday issued notice in a lawsuit filed by Hindu groups that alleged a Hindu temple existed under the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti shrine at Ajmer and sought worshipping rights at the spot.
Civil judge Manmohan Chandel heard the case filed by Vishnu Gupta, the national president of the Hindu Sena, in September under the title “Bhagwan Shri Sankat Mochak Mahadev Virajman vs. Dargah Committee.”
The court issued notices to the Union ministry of minority affairs, the Ajmer Dargah Committee, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been made a party to this suit.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 20.
The petitioner’s counsel, Ramswaroop Bishnoi, cited a 1911 book titled Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive by retired judge Harvilas Sharda, who claimed that debris from a Hindu temple were used in the construction of the dargah.
According to the book, a sanctum or basement existed within the dargah, reportedly housing a Shiva Lingam that was previously worshiped by a Brahmin family. The book also mentioned remnants of a Jain temple being part of the dargah’s structure and described elements of temple debris in the construction of its 75-feet-tall buland darwaza.
Bishnoi said that the petitioner earlier submitted a memorandum to ASI, requesting a survey of the dargah. The petition primarily sought permission to perform rituals and worship at the Shiva Lingam purportedly located in the basement of the dargah.
Reacting to the development, secretary of the Anjuman Committee (the body of Khadim), Syed Sarwar Chishti, questioned the point of pursuing such matters now, and referring to former CJI Chandrachud’s earlier observation that the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which declares that the status quo of religious places, will remain as it was in 1947 (except for the Babri Masjid). “We have been serving here for more than 800 years, through various periods… and nothing has ever happened before… this is not in the country’s best interest. This Dargah belongs to Khawaja Garib Nawaz and will remain so,” he said.
He further questioned the court notice to ASI, saying that it “does not have jurisdiction over the dargah, as it comes under the Ministry of Minorities”.
The development comes amid simmering tensions in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district, where four people died on Sunday after a civil court directed the advocate commissioner to conduct a survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid. In Sambhal too, Hindu groups had claimed that the mosque was built after razing a Hindu temple in 1529.
Similar proceedings are also ongoing in courts in Varanasi and Mathura over claims by Hindu groups that temples were razed to build the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi and the Shahi Eidgah in Mathura.