A court in Rajasthan, India, has issued a notice in a lawsuit filed by extremist Hindu groups, claiming that a Hindu Shiva temple exists beneath the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti shrine in Ajmer and demanding the right to worship at the site.
The lawsuit, filed by Vishnu Gupta, national president of the Hindu Sena, was heard by Civil Judge Manmohan Chandel on Wednesday. The petition, titled “Bhagwan Shri Sankat Mochak Mahadev Virajman vs. Dargah Committee,” was submitted in September, asserting that remnants of a Hindu temple are part of the structure of the famous Ajmer Sharif dargah.
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The court has directed notices to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, the Ajmer Dargah Committee, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is named as a party in the lawsuit. The next hearing is set for December 20.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Ramswaroop Bishnoi, referenced a 1911 book titled Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive by retired judge Harvilas Sharda. The book suggests that debris from a Hindu temple was used in constructing the dargah and also mentions that a Shiva Lingam was once housed in a sanctum within the dargah, which was previously worshiped by a Brahmin family. Additionally, the book claims that remnants of a Jain temple were integrated into the dargah’s structure, including parts of temple debris in the 75-foot-tall buland darwaza.
The case has sparked controversy, with significant religious and historical implications, and the legal proceedings are being closely observed.
