Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the “scientific survey” in the disputed spaces of Bhojshala and Kamal Maula Masjid of Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and P K Mishra issued notices to the Centre, Madhya Pradesh government, Archaeological Survey of India and others on the plea filed by Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society challenging the March 11 order of the MP High Court on scientific survey.
“Issue notice returnable in four weeks. In the interim, no action should be taken without the leave of this court on the outcome of the ordered impugned survey,” the bench said, adding that “It is made clear that no physical excavation should be taken which will change the character of the premises in question.”
A person associated with the survey had last week said that soil and stones, which were collected during the digging process, are being preserved by the ASI.
Ashish Goyal, who represents the Hindus and also accompanies the ASI team during this process, had told news agency PTI that the survey is being conducted without any break using new scientific methods, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Global Positioning System (GPS), carbon dating in addition to excavation at the site.
He also noted that videography and photography are also being carried out on the premises.
“It is an eternal truth that Bhojshala was built by Raja Bhoj. The inscriptions, pillars and each piece of Bhojshala reveal that this is a Hindu structure,” Goyal said.
The ASI team, comprising more than a dozen members, began its survey on the controversial complex March 22. This came after Madhya Pradesh High Court’s March 11 order directing ASI to carry out within six weeks a “scientific survey” of the Bhojshala complex– a medieval-era monument that Hindus believe is a temple of Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati) and the Muslim community calls Kamal Maula Mosque.
The court observed that the nature and character of the complex need to be “demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion”.
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