The Archaeological Survey of India has told the Supreme Court that two structures inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in New Delhi carry religious significance as Muslim devotees visit them daily, PTI reported on Wednesday.
In a report submitted to the court, the authority said that the Ashiq Allah Dargah and the chillagah of Baba Farid, a 13th century Sufi saint, were associated with the “religious sentiment and faith of a particular religious community”.
Ashiq Allah, or Sheikh Shahabuddin, was also a Sufi saint. A chillagah is a secluded place where Muslim mystics meditate and pray.
“Devotees light lamps at the Ashiq Dargah for fulfilment of wishes,” the report said. “They visit chillagah to get rid of evil spirits and bad omen.”
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar has been hearing a petition filed by a man named Zameer Ahmed Jumlana against a Delhi High Court order that refused to pass directions for the protection of several centuries-old religious structures inside the park.
A petition in the High Court was filed amid apprehensions that the two structures in the park would be demolished by the Delhi Development Authority after a 600-year-old Masjid Akhonji, along with the Madrasa Bahrul Uloom and several graves, were razed in January, Live Law reported.
On February 8, the High Court disposed of the matter after recording an undertaking from the Delhi Development Authority that no protected monument would be demolished. This order also noted the need to balance the right to heritage and the right to breathe in view of unauthorised encroachments.
The High Court had also said that a Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena-led religious committee could consider the matter.
Subsequently, Jumlana moved the Supreme Court seeking the protection of the religious structures inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. He claimed that the Delhi Development Authority was planning to demolish the structures in the name of removing encroachments, without assessing their historicity.
The Supreme Court had in July sought a status report from the Archaeological Survey of India and the National Monument Authority.
In its report, the Archaeological Survey of India said that an inscription on the tomb of Sheikh Shahabuddin in the Ashiq Allah Dargah stated that it was constructed in 1317 AD.
“The structural modifications and alterations for the sake of restoration and conservation have impacted the historicity of the place,” the report said.
It further said that the tomb was close to the citadel of Prithviraj Chauhan, a 12th century Rajput king, and fell within the 200-metre regulated zone as per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, PTI reported.
The Act regulates construction activities around protected monuments and archaeological sites. It prohibits construction within a 100-metre radius of a protected monument. Any construction within a 200-metre radius beyond this restricted area, referred to as the regulated area, requires approval.
Any repair, renovation or construction work requires prior permission of competent authority, the Archaeological Survey of India said in its report.
The matter will be heard in February.
The report comes amid a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on December 12 directing courts not to pass any interim or final orders, including survey directions, in pending lawsuits concerning the religious character of places of worship.
The 1991 Places of Worship Act does not allow any changes to the religious character of a place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.
There are presently at least 18 suits pending in courts across the country concerning 10 mosques and shrines, including the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, the Shahi Eidgah mosque in Mathura and the Ajmer Sharif dargah in Rajasthan. Hindu litigants in these cases have claimed that these structures were built after demolishing ancient Hindu temples.
Also read: ‘They want to erase our history’: A Delhi neighbourhood mourns the death of a mosque
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