Bhojshala dispute: Petitioners to move SC against HC decision

Ashar Warsi, the Muslim side's lawyer, said the Muslim side hoped that the Supreme Court would consider its arguments and restore the permission to offer namaz at the site.

Indore: The Muslim petitioners on Friday, May 15, said that they will challenge the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision declaring the disputed Bhojshala structure in Dhar district to be a Saraswati temple.

Ashar Warsi, the Muslim side’s lawyer, told PTI, “We are not satisfied with the High Court’s decision. We will challenge it before the Supreme Court as soon as possible.”

The scientific survey of the Bhojshala complex conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India and its report, on which the HC relied, were “flawed”, he claimed.

Jitendra Singh ‘Vishen’, one of the Hindu petitioners, earlier in the day filed a caveat in the Supreme Court through advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, requesting the court that no orders be passed without hearing it on any appeal against the High Court order.

Advocate Warsi, meanwhile, said that the case, which involved disputed facts, should not have been dealt with under Article 226 of the Constitution, and instead referred to a civil court. Under Article 226, a person can move a High Court or the Supreme Court directly against the violation of legal or fundamental rights by filing a writ petition.

Warsi said his clients had already filed a lawsuit in a civil court in Dhar.

In its ruling on Friday, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court held that the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex is a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. It also quashed the April 7, 2003 order of the ASI, which allowed Muslims to offer prayers on the premises every Friday.

Warsi said the Muslim side hoped that the Supreme Court would consider its arguments and restore the permission to offer namaz at the site.