The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has rejected the petition that sought an inquiry into the history of the Taj Mahal and to open 22 closed rooms in the Taj Mahal to check for the existence of Hindu god idols. Rajneesh Singh, who claimed to be a BJP youth media in charge of the Ayodhya unit, filed the petition, requesting that the Archaeological Survey of India examine the 22 closed doors of the ancient site.
To this, the court has stated, “The issues lie outside the court and should
be done by various methodology and should be left with the historians.” Further, the court also added, “Tomorrow you’ll come and ask us to go to chambers of Hon’ble judges? Please, don’t make a mockery of the PIL system.”
The petitioner stated that there was a truth about the Taj Mahal that the country needed to know. The petition requested that the government form a fact-finding commission and search for important historical evidence such as idols and inscriptions that are believed to be hidden inside the Taj Mahal on Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s orders. With this, the petitioner stated, “I have also filed many RTIs. I got to know about many rooms which have been locked and the authorities said that those rooms are locked because of security reasons.”
The petition, submitted by Advocate Rudra Singh, has claimed that several Hindu groups believe that the Taj Mahal is an old Shiva Temple known as Tejo Mahalaya. This theory has also been backed up by many historians. As per Advocate Singh, there are 22 rooms permanently closed in the upper and lower portions of the Taj Mahal’s four-story building, and historians such as PN Oak and many Hindu worshipers think there is a presence of a Shiva temple. Earlier, in 2017, the central government, in response to a complaint filed in Agra by six advocates claiming that the Taj Mahal is the Tejo Mahalaya temple palace, also claimed that the allegation is concocted and self-built.
The Taj Mahal was constructed as a tomb for Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz, by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The marble monument’s construction began in 1632 and was completed 22 years later, in 1653. In 1982, the architectural masterpiece was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The plea was filed by Rajneesh Singh, a BJP youth media in-charge, before the Lucknow bench that sought the directions to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to probe the 22 closed doors in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of the idols of Hindu deities. The plea sought the constitution of a fact-finding committee and the submission of a report by the ASI. The plea also cited the claims by some historians and some Hindu groups about the monument being an old Shiv Temple.
During the hearing, the bench told the petitioner that such debates were welcome in informal settings, but not in a court of law, reported Bar and Bench. “I welcome you to debate the issue with us in the drawing room and not in a court of law,” the court stated. Expressing its displeasure at the plea, the court said, “Are these issues debatable in a court of law? Are we judges trained and equipped with such things?” Replying to the petitioner’s argument regarding “right to information”, the bench further said, “Go and research. Do M.A. Do PhD. Then choose such a topic and if any institute disallows you to research on such a topic. Then come to us. Please enrol yourself in MA, then go for NET, JRF and if any university denies you to research on such topic then come to us.”
The petitioner had earlier said he had been trying to ascertain the facts since 2020 through the Right to Information Act. “Replying to the RTI, the Union ministry of culture informed the Central Information Commission (in Delhi) that these rooms were locked due to security reasons,” said Singh. And no detail was provided about these rooms, he added. “In the RTI, I had sought details about locked rooms (what is inside them) and directives to open them,” he said. “It is an old controversy. There is no harm in authorising ASI to examine these rooms to ascertain facts. This will put to rest all controversies related to the Taj Mahal,” said DP Tewari, former professor of ancient history at the Lucknow University.