A suit has been filed at Delhi’s Saket court seeking restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples inside the Qutub Minar complex.
The civil suit, filed on behalf of Hindu deity Lord Vishnu, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and others through next friend advocates Hari Shankar Jain, Ranajna Agnihotri and Vishnu Shankar Jain, will be heard on December 24.
The suit says: “That this suit is being filed to preserve and protect the religious and cultural heritage of India and to exercise the right to religion guaranteed by Article 25 and 26 of Constitution of India by restoring 27 Hindu and Jain temples with respective deities which were dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command and orders of Qutub-Din-Aibak, a commander of invader Mohammad Gauri, who established slave dynasty and raised some construction at the same very place of temples naming it as, Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque.”
It said there existed 27 temples of Lords Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, Sun, Goddess Gauri and Jain Tirthankars in the precincts of Meru Dhwaj, which is now called Qutub Minar.
The petitioner claimed: “According to historians, Mohammad Gauri defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan in the battle in 1191 and his General Qutubdin Aibak demolished the temples standing in the temple complex and from the building materials of temples, a construction was raised to show the might of Islam which was named as Quwwatul Islam Masjid.”
The petitioner also claimed that reportedly in 1960, a black Vishnu statue was recovered from the Qutub Minar and kept under the custody of the Archaeological Survey of India in secret. The Quwwatul Islam Masjid was declared a protected monument under the provisions of Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904.
The suit added: “Pass a decree in the nature of a permanent injunction, restraining the defendants permanently from interfering in making necessary repair works, raising construction and making arrangement for the pooja, darshan and worship of deities in accordance with Sections 16 and 19 of `The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958` by a trust, to be created by the Central government within the area.”
