A Saket court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a civil suit that sought the “restoration” of alleged Hindu and Jain temple complexes within the Qutub Minar complex in south Delhi.
Additional District Judge Nikhil Chopra has now posted the next hearing for May 24. The civil suit, filed by Hindu and Jain devotees, claims that the “Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque” was allegedly built by demolishing 27 Hindu and Jain temples predating it and using the materials from the ruined structures.
After the petitioners claimed in their suit that images of Hindu gods like Ganesha were still visible on the structures within the Qutub Minar complex, the court had issued a notice to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
In its submissions, the ASI had told the court that it is neither planning to remove any structure from within the complex nor does it intend to do so. Taking this submission on record, the court had then ordered that a status quo be maintained in the said complex.
The suit had earlier been rejected by Additional District Judge Neha Sharma in November last year. After another suit was filed, the case was transferred to ADJ Chopra's court in April this year.
Hari Shankar Jain and advocate Ranjana Agnihotri filed the suit, saying they did it as the devotees and “next friend” of Jain god Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu god Lord Vishnu. Other Hindu and Jain devotees have joined the suit as well, according to Ms. Agnihotri.
Claiming that the information was from the ASI, the suit said, “There existed huge and lofty Hindu and Jain temples of Lord Vishnu and Lord Rishabh Dev as presiding deities along with Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, God Sun, and Goddess Gauri and Jain Tirthankars along with constellations, within the precincts of Dhruv/Meru Dhwaj/Meru Tower now termed as Qutub Minar/Qutub Tower”.
The suit also claimed that Qutub Minar premises has “clear pictures of Hindu Gods and deities like Shri Ganesh, Vishnu and Yaksha” and several symbols like kalash and sacred lotus, along with temple wells, which suggest a “Hindu origin of the building”.
“Only the faces of gods and deities are broken and dismantled but the sculptures are identifiable,” it added.
