Days after a court-ordered survey conducted on the Shahi Jama Masjid in UP’s Sambhal led to protests and the killing of five Muslims including a minor allegedly in a police firing, a Rajasthan court on Wednesday accepted a petition claiming that the mausoleum of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti or the Ajmer Sharif Dargah is a Shiva temple. Ajmer West Civil Judge (Senior Division) Manmohan Chandel, while hearing the petition filed by Vishnu Gupta, the national president of the Hindu Sena, agreed to hear the matter and directed summon notices to be issued to the Dargah Committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).The court has set the date of the next hearing on December 20.The development comes a month after an Ajmer court, in September this year refused to entertain a plea filed by the Hindu Sena seeking to declare the Ajmer Dargah as a Shiv temple. The court cited lack of jurisdiction as the reason for its decision, adjourning the case for further hearing on October 10. Five Muslims were killed on Sunday as UP police allegedly opened fire on people protesting the survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Kot Garvi area of UP’s Sambhal. An initial survey of the masjid was carried out on November 19, hours after a Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) ordered the constitution of an “Advocate Commission,” with local leaders and opposition parties alleging an “unusual haste” from the part of the administration.The court ordered the survey after hearing the petition filed by Gopal Sharma, who claimed that a Harihar temple was at the site where the Jama Masjid now stands.
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