The Allahabad HC today rejected a petition seeking to open 2 closed rooms in Taj Mahal. Rajneesh Singh, a BJP youth media in-charge, filed a petition with the Lucknow bench, requesting that the Archaeological Survey of India investigate the 22 locked doors in the Taj Mahal for the presence of Hindu deity idols.
The plea requested the formation of a fact-finding committee and the ASI’s production of a report. Some historians and Hindu organisations have claimed that the monument is an antique Shiv Temple, according to the petition. Rajneesh Singh in his petition has claimed that the temple was dismantled and turned into a mausoleum by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The petition also said that as many Hindu groups allege that the Taj Mahal is an old Shiva Temple, an investigation should be done and the matter should be resolved.
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Singh claimed in his appeal, filed through lawyers Ram Prakash Shukla and Rudra Vikram Singh, that there were over twenty closed rooms in the Taj Mahal’s basement and upper floors that were not exposed to the public. He stated that Hindu idols and scriptures were found in those rooms, proving that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva Temple.
The plea urged that ASI should set up a fact-finding commission to investigate the assertion that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan transformed the Shiva Temple into a memorial to his wife Mumtaz Mahal after she died. It asked the court to order ASI to produce a report on the matter.
