Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct 21: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request to allow access to certain Taj Mahal chambers in order to disprove the monument’s “alleged history,” which included assertions that it was a Shiva temple.
A panel of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh dismissed the petition after finding that the appeal against an Allahabad High Court ruling constituted a “publicity interest action.”
“The High Court was not in error in dismissing the petition, which is more of a publicity interest litigation. Dismissed,” the top court ordered.
Dr. Rajneesh Singh, posing as the media coordinator for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ayodhya branch, submitted the case. In the petition, it was requested that the government form a fact-finding commission and “search for crucial historical evidence” such as idols and inscriptions that are allegedly being kept secret inside the Taj Mahal by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
ALSO READ: Shinde-Fadnavis govt lifts restrictions on CBI probes in Maharashtra
The petitioner had contended before the Allahabad High Court that numerous Hindu organisations have been asserting that the Taj Mahal is an ancient Shiva Temple that was formerly known as Tejo Mahalaya; many historians have also backed this thesis.
It was argued that the dispute needed to be settled because these allegations had caused Hindus and Muslims to start fighting.
Singh claimed that there are 22 rooms located in the upper and lower portion of the Taj Mahal’s four-story building that are constantly shut and that many Hindu worshipers and historians like PN Oak think a Shiva temple is located in those rooms.
Such allegations concerning the “Tejo Mahalaya” have appeared before the courts before. The Central government claimed in 2017 that the claim was “concocted” and “self-built” in response to a lawsuit filed in Agra by six petitioners who claimed that the Taj Mahal was the Tejo Mahalaya Temple palace.
