Indore, Apr 2 The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday said it will begin regular hearing from April 6 in cases related to the religious character of the Bhojshala temple-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar.
The Indore bench of the high court said it will hear arguments of all parties and intervenors in a sequential manner.
The Hindu community considers Bhojshala to be a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, while the Muslim side claims the possibly 11th-century monument to be the Kamal Maula Mosque. The disputed complex is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The HC is hearing four petitions and one writ appeal simultaneously regarding the dispute over the religious nature of the complex.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi, after hearing parties and perusing a Supreme Court order of Wednesday, orally observed, "We will conduct regular hearing in all matters from Monday (April 6) and hear arguments of all parties and intervenors in a sequential manner."
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid appeared for the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, a party in the case.
He said videography and colour photographs of the ASI's scientific survey of the disputed complex have neither been provided to them nor shown so far.
Khurshid requested the high court that these materials should be shared with them after the court's perusal as their forthcoming objections may depend on the nature of the material. He also referred to the Supreme Court's order in this regard.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of the appeal of the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, declining to interfere in the high court proceedings at present.
"It, thus, seems that according to the appellant (Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society) there are some objections which arise from what is duly recorded in the course of videography. We have no doubt that the learned High Court, after seeing such videography, shall consider those objections too, along with other objections made by the parties, in accordance with the principles of natural justice," it said.
"The High Court shall, accordingly, take an appropriate decision on the objections, including those which are found arising from the videography," the apex court had said.
The ASI had conducted a scientific survey of the disputed complex two years ago on the high court's directions and submitted a detailed report.
The ASI's more than 2,000-page report indicates that a massive structure dating back to the reign of the Parmar kings of Dhar predated the mosque, and that the current disputed structure was built using repurposed temple components.
The Hindu side, which approached the High Court with the primary plea of determining the religious nature of the entire disputed complex, claims that coins, sculptures, and inscriptions found by the ASI during its scientific survey prove that the complex was originally a temple.
On the other hand, the Muslim side has disputed this claim, questioning the ASI's survey.
The Muslim side alleges that the ASI ignored its earlier objections and included "objects found through backdoors" in the survey.
