Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected a petition seeking the opening of as many as 22 closed doors of the Taj Mahal. According to reports, the writ petition was filed on Saturday in the registry of the Lucknow bench of the High Court by Bharatiya Janata Party's Ayodhya Unit media in-charge Rajneesh Singh. The plea sought a fact-finding inquiry into the 'history' of the iconic monument and also opening of the doors to see "the truth, whatever it is".
The petition has also sought setting aside certain provisions of The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains (Declaration of National Importance) Act 1951, and The Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, under which the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb were declared historical monuments.
Many right-wing outfits have claimed in the past that the Mughal-era mausoleum was actually a Lord Shiva temple.
Dismissing the case, Bench of Justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi pulled up the petitioner and said: "Tomorrow you will come and ask us to go to chambers of Hon'ble judges? Please, don't make a mockery of the PIL system."
Futhermore, the Bench also suggested the petitioner to do course such as M.A or PhD. "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," Justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi said, according to Bar & Bench.
"In the petition, I have demanded that the 22 doors of rooms of the monument which are closed should be opened to see the truth, whatever it is," Singh had told news agency PTI on Saturday.
The plea filed in the Allahabad High Court was deferred to today as lawyers boycotted work on Tuesday.
Lawyers of the Allahabad High Court, both in Prayagraj and Lucknow, boycotted work on Tuesday to protest against the inordinate time being taken in listing of fresh cases by the registry of the High Court.
On Wednesday, a BJP MP Diya Kumari claimed that land on which the Taj Mahal was built originally belonged to Jaipur's ruler Jai Singh and was acquired by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, asserting that records are available with the erstwhile Jaipur royal family.
She also supported the petition filed in the Allahabad High Court seeking an inquiry into Taj Mahal's history and opening of its closed doors.