india

Updated: Aug 28, 2019 03:28 IST

A fresh petition was filed on Tuesday in the Supreme Court under Article 32 (to enforce one’s fundamental right) to allow construction of Saint Guru Ravidas and Samadhis demolished recently in Tughlaqabad forest following which violent protests broke out in some parts of South Delhi.

Filed by two former Members of Parliament — Ashok Tanwar and Pradeep Jain Arya, the petition seeks to enforce the petitioners’ right to worship. Demolition of the temple has denied them this right, the petitioners have stated. The temple was not an encroachment on government land and the site on which it stood was given to Saint Ravidas by Sultan Sikander Lodhi in 1509. Tanwar and Arya belong to the Ravidas community and were regular visitors to the temple, they said.

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had on August 10 demolished the temple pursuant to the top court’s order. Action was taken after the SC on April 8 dismissed an appeal against Delhi High Court’s November 2018 judgement refusing to accord property rights to the temple management. HC had upheld the order of the trial court where the temple management had filed a civil suit claiming rights over the site where the temple stands.

On August 13 the court took strong exception to violent protests reported in some parts of Punjab, but within few days followers of Saint Ravidas resorted to stone pelting near Tuglaqabad area, leaving the commuters stuck in traffic for hours.

In their petition Tanwar and Jain complained that the religious rights of the devotees of Saint Ravidas have not been considered in any of the judicial proceedings.

Petitioners clarified that they were not seeking any property rights but only for enforcement and protection of the right of the “pious land where Saint Ravidas lived.” However, the two did highlight the fact that the prayer and other religious activities continued without any hindrance even when the site where the temple stood was declared a protected forest.

“That the site has religious significance for more than last 500 years and even before the government of India or DDA came into being. Hence it cannot be said that the temple and the samadhis of Guru Saint Ravidas is encroaching upon the government land,” read the petition.