KAMAL MULA MOSQUE COMMITTEE APPEALS TO INDIA’S SUPREME COURT OVER TEMPLE VERDICT

Fri 22 May 2026:

The decades-old dispute over the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex has moved to India’s Supreme Court. The Kamal Maula Mosque committee has filed a challenge against a recent Madhya Pradesh High Court order that ruled the site is a temple and barred Muslims from offering prayers there, according to Live Law.

The special leave petition was filed by Qazi Moinuddin, who had intervened in the High Court proceedings, challenging the May 15 order passed in petitions filed by Hindu Front for Justice and others.

The plea argues that the High Court’s findings on the religious character and usage of the disputed structure adversely affect the religious rights of the Muslim community.

The Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex in Dhar has remained a contentious site for years, with Hindus claiming it as a temple dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati), while Muslims identify it as the Kamal Maula Mosque.

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Relying on a report by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the High Court accepted the claim that the site was originally a temple. The court also quashed a 2003 ASI circular that had allowed Hindu worship and Muslim prayers at the complex on different days, effectively barring namaz at the site.

At the same time, the High Court granted liberty to the Muslim community to approach the state government for an alternate site in Dhar district to construct a mosque.

The ruling has drawn comparisons from critics to the Ayodhya Verdict, in which the Supreme Court of India handed over the disputed Babri Masjid site for the construction of the Ram Temple while directing the allotment of separate land to the Muslim community for a mosque.

Following the Madhya Pradesh High Court verdict, reports said the main area of the disputed site was ceremonially cleansed with cow urine and Ganges water before an idol was installed there.

Dhar : Following the Indore High Court’s declaration of the Kamal Maula Mosque as a temple, the main area was cleansed with cow urine and Ganges water, and an idol was subsequently installed there.

Remember, declaring a mosque a temple does not change its existence or identity. pic.twitter.com/fZ9BcD0pwD

— The Muslim (@TheMuslim786) May 17, 2026

Under the watch of nearly 1,800 security personnel deployed across Dhar, the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex witnessed its first “maha aarti” by Hindu groups, while Muslims who say their right to offer namaaz at the structure still stands chose to offer prayers in the confines of their homes as a sign of protest.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) strongly rejected the verdict as “unacceptable,” arguing that it ignored historical records, revenue documents, colonial-era gazetteers, and even the earlier position of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), while announcing that the ruling would be challenged before the Supreme Court of India.

Asaduddin Owaisi described the judgment as a “repetition of the Babri verdict” with “glaring similarities,” alleging that the court ignored evidence, including the 1935 Dhar State Gazette and the 1985 Waqf registration related to the site.

‘HINDU ORDER RUNS INDIA’: COURT DECLARES ANOTHER MEDIEVAL MOSQUE A TEMPLE

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and associated Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) groups have increasingly targeted historic mosques and Islamic monuments. These groups allege these sites were built over destroyed Hindu temples.

Key aspects of this campaign include:

- Ayodhya and The Ram Temple: In a landmark event, PM Modi attended the consecration of a grand Hindu temple in Ayodhya, which was built on the exact site of the historical 16th-century Babri Mosque that was destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992.
- Gyanvapi and Shahi Jama Masquid: Prominent Islamic sites, such as the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Jama Mosque in Sambhal, have faced ongoing legal challenges and court-mandated archaeological surveys aimed at determining if they should be converted into Hindu temples.
- Political Rhetoric: BJP leaders have leveraged these campaigns during elections, utilizing messaging that emphasizes the historical destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim rulers.

ANGER ERUPTS IN MUMBAI AFTER MOSQUE DEMOLITION; POLICE LATHI-CHARGE PROTESTERS

This expanding drive to legally and symbolically appropriate Islamic heritage has generated significant concern among India’s Muslim minority population and human rights organizations regarding the preservation of their religious and cultural sites.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) termed the High Court verdict “unfortunate” and expressed hope that the Supreme Court would hear the appeals and set aside the judgment.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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