Court in Ajmer, Rajasthan, has issued notices to the Archaeological Survey of India and the Centre following a petition claiming that a Shiva temple exists at the site of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah

The petition, filed in September, seeks permission to allow Hindu worship at the site

Civil Judge Manmohan Chandel has directed notices to be served to the Ajmer Dargah Committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the ASI, requiring their responses

The petitioner, represented by advocate Yogesh Siroja, is seeking an ASI survey of the site and the right for Hindus to worship there

The petition cites a 1911 book, Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive, by retired judge Harvilas Sharda, which claims that remnants of a Shiva temple were used in the dargah's construction

Vishnu Gupta, chief of the right-wing group Hindu Sena and petitioner in the case, has demanded that the dargah be declared the Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple, its registration canceled, and a survey conducted by the ASI

The Dargah Committee has strongly refuted these claims, with Syed Sarwar Chishti, secretary of Anjuman Syed Jadgan, calling the allegations an attack on communal harmony and pluralism

"The dargah promotes unity in diversity, with followers from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Targeting age-old mosques in Kashi, Mathura, and now Ajmer is harmful to the nation's harmony," Chishti told IANS

This development follows recent unrest in Sambhal, UP, where four people were killed after violence erupted over a court-ordered survey of a mosque

Similar claims about historical temples at mosques have arisen in Varanasi, Mathura, and Dhar, fueling ongoing debates over the country's religious heritage

The court has set December 20 as the date for the next hearing, with responses from the involved parties likely to shape the case's trajectory