Indore: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the Archaeological Survey of India to upload videographic records of its survey of the Bhojshala complex and provide its access to the litigants, including the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi is hearing multiple petitions over the religious nature of a disputed structure at the Bhojshala complex in MP’s Dhar district. While Hindus believe the structure to be a temple of Vagdevi or Goddess Saraswati, Muslims call it the Kamal Maula mosque.
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, on Tuesday made submissions via video conference on a plea seeking production of videography related to the survey.
Objections to the ASI survey report could arise from the videographic record, and hence the respondent must have access to it, he argued.
He also referred to a Supreme Court order stating that the HC should consider objections arising from the videography.
Opposing the plea, the ASI’s counsel submitted that the videography spanned 96 days, and sharing or displaying the footage would be time-consuming. It was also argued that the SC’s order contemplated viewing of the material by the high court.
But the HC did not accept this contention. The bench directed the ASI to upload the entire videography of the survey proceedings on a secure digital platform such as a Google Drive link or equivalent cloud-based service, and to provide access to both the respondents’ counsels and the court.
This process should be completed by April 27, the court said. The main matter has been listed for further hearing on Tuesday.
Earlier, an intervener’s counsel on Monday told the HC that the petition filed by the Hindu Front for Justice is not maintainable, as contested ownership claims and a thin evidentiary base make it a matter for civil courts, not a writ court.
Advocate Ashhar Warsi, appearing for the intervener, urged the bench to direct the parties to a civil trial or a Waqf tribunal hearing.
Warsi also placed official maps on record showing that the disputed property was recorded as a mosque in land revenue entries going back to 1925-26.
The Waqf Act, 1996, and the 1985 Waqf survey provided a one-year window for filing objections. That window has long closed, and no suit can be entertained beyond one year from the date of publication, he said.
As to the claim that the structure bears hallmarks of a Hindu temple, Warsi cited ASI reports to make the opposite case.
The essential features of a temple — garbha griha, shikhara, mandapa, antarala, gopuram — are absent and what is present is unmistakable mosque elements like mihrab, qibla alignment, sahn (open courtyard) and minar, he said.
He also referred to the ASI director’s own rejection of a request to hold Bhoj Utsav at the site, with the director stating only Namaz could be permitted.
As per the British museum documentation, the origins of the statue of Vagdevi housed in the museum can be traced to the ruins of the city palace of the Parmar era and not Bhojshala, the lawyer argued.
The ASI’s report concluded that the existing structure was built using remains of a Hindu temple from the Parmar era.
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