The bench further directed that no structural alterations be made to the complex without the apex court’s permission
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay a Madhya Pradesh high court judgment declaring the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex a temple and disallowing Muslims from offering namaz there. However, it agreed to hear three petitions by the Muslim side, which argued that HC erased 700-year-old documentary evidence of the site being a mosque and disturbed a 23-year-old arrangement under which Hindus worshipped on Tuesdays and Muslims offered Friday namaz.”Let us not pass any order which might create tension and law and order situation. We are ready to hear the issue on a day-to-day basis and resolve it finally,” a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said after solicitor general Tushar Mehta flagged the risk of unrest if the HC order was stayed.The bench directed the Dhar district administration to identify a separate open space adjacent to or near the Bhojshala complex to enable Muslims to offer namaz on Fridays. “The ingress and egress to this side should not be impeded,” it said. It also restrained the ASI and govt from making any structural alteration to the complex without prior permission from the apex court.Appearing for the Muslim side, senior advocates A M Singhvi, Huzefa Ahmadi, Salman Khurshid and Meenakshi Arora challenged the May 15 HC verdict as historically erroneous and legally impermissible under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and sought restoration of the status quo ante. For the MP govt, Mehta said staying HC order now could disturb the peace maintained after a few incidents following the verdict. “Any change in the ground situation now may give rise to law-and-order situations. Any interim order on status quo ante may muddle the situation,” he said.Referring to ASI’s April 7, 2003 order allowing Friday namaz and Tuesday worship by Hindus, along with annual Basant Panchmi puja, the bench noted that the arrangement had led to disputes and required SC intervention in the past.”We will request both sides to have patience. It is a matter of a few weeks in which the hearing can be concluded,” the bench said. Accepting a request from the Hindu side, represented by Guru Krishna Kumar, the SC agreed to hear the matter within three weeks.When Kumar said an idol of goddess Saraswati had already been installed inside the complex, Singhvi said, “There is no idol, it is a cardboard image.”Singhvi said the administration acted with unusual speed in implementing HC verdict by stopping Muslims from entering the complex the very next day. The bench, however, said immediate administrative action after HC ruling was necessary given the sensitivity of the matter and warned that even a day’s delay could have serious consequences.
