Judicial recognition of eternal rights: Madhya Pradesh HC declares Bhojshala a temple

BHOPAL: The Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has redefined the legal status of the Bhojshala complex in Dhar by ruling that the site is a temple and that the Hindu community possesses an inherent right to worship there which was never lost to history.

In a significant judgment delivered on Friday, the division bench of Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi set aside decades of administrative compromises surrounding the disputed site.

The court observed that “the nature and character of the whole monument needs to be demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion” through the application of scientific archaeological evidence. A primary finding of the court focused on the historical continuity of the site and the uninterrupted religious association claimed by the Hindu side.

In a remark addressing the long-standing dispute over the use of the complex, the court stated that “the continuity of Hindu worship at the site through regulated practices over time has never been extinguished”.

This observation underscores the judicial view that even during periods of restricted access, the religious identity of Bhojshala as a temple remained intact.

Consequently, the court ruled that the previous Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order dated April 7, 2003, which permitted Friday prayers at the premises, was fundamentally flawed. The bench remarked that the 2003 arrangement was “inconsistent with the established character of the monument” as revealed by modern scientific studies and archaeological findings.

The judgment relied extensively on the findings of the 2024 archaeological survey, noting that the presence of Sanskrit inscriptions and sacred structural elements such as the “Havan Kund” constituted significant evidence regarding the original nature of the site.