The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected a petition seeking a fact-finding inquiry into the “history” of the Taj Mahal and also opening of the doors of its “22 rooms” to see “the truth, whatever it is”.
The writ petition was filed on Saturday in the registry of the Lucknow bench of the High Court by Rajneesh Singh, who is the media in-charge of the BJP’s Ayodhya unit.He contends that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva Temple, known as Tejo Mahalaya and has asked for the government to constitute a fact-finding committee to publish the “real history” of the monument.
Before rejecting the petition, the high court pulled up the petitioner and asked him not to make “a mockery of the PIL system”. “Go and research. Do M.A. Do PhD.,” a bench comprising Justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi said, according to Bar & Bench. “Then choose such a topic and if any institute disallows you to research on such a topic.”
“I welcome you to debate the issue with us in the drawing room and not in a court of law,” the court said.
Several right-wing outfits have claimed in the past that the Mughal-era mausoleum was a Lord Shiva temple.
The complainant said, “In the petition, I have demanded that the 22 doors of rooms of the monument which are closed should be opened to see the truth, whatever it is”. The monument is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The petition has also sought setting aside certain provisions of The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Declaration of National Importance) Act 1951, and The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, under which the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb were declared historical monuments.