Dhar

Muslims offered prayers on Friday at a site near the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, following the permission of the Supreme Court the previous day.

The arrangements for the namaz at the site, Survey No. 612, near Bhojshala was selected by the Muslim community leaders during a meeting with the district administration.

A good number of devotees turned up for the Friday namaz for the first time after the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled in May that the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex was a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.

The administration made necessary arrangements for the namaz, said officials.

Earlier, Dhar Collector Rajiv Ranjan Meena told reporters that all necessary administrative arrangements were being made for offering namaz.

The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted Muslims to offer Friday prayers at the premises of a dargah adjacent to the 11th-century Bhojshala complex. It also directed the MP government to ensure that Muslims are allowed to offer namaz at the site between 1 and 3 pm on Fridays.

While ruling that the ancient site was a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the HC had also quashed a decades-old Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order that had allowed the Muslim community to offer Friday prayers at the complex.

The ASI order of April 2003 had also restricted the right of Hindus to worship within the Bhojshala complex.

The division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi, in a 242-page order, held that the religious character of the 11th-century monument had been established on the basis of scientific evidence, while clarifying that the Muslim side may approach the Madhya Pradesh government for separate land in the district to construct a mosque.

READ MORE: CWG medalist Mohammed Basil once sprinted alongside normal athletes

However, Muslims moved the SC, which on Thursday permitted them to offer Friday prayers at the premises of a dargah adjacent to the disputed Bhojshala complex at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. Subsequently, community leaders and district administration chose Survey No. 612.

An SC bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, however, said that the instant direction does not preclude the state government and the Muslim side from exploring another site for Friday prayers with mutual consent.