The Supreme Court on Friday asked the stakeholders involved in the Ravidas temple controversy to deliberate on the issue with the lawyers and law officers and devise a solution to build a new temple at an alternate site.
According to the reports, the Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Ravindra Bhat said that the Court will pass orders after the parties place a solution before it. The court asked the parties to find an amicable solution on a better location where the temple can be built.
“You find an amicable solution and come back to us. Any day we can pass the order. We respect the sentiments of everybody on the earth but we have to follow the law,” the bench said.
Hearing a plea filed by Ashok Tanwar and Pradeep Jain Aditya, two former members of Parliament from the Congress party, who had protested the demolition of the Ravidas Temple at Tughlaqabad, New Delhi, the top court said it respects everybody’s sentiments but the law has to be followed.
The Ravidas temple was demolished on August 21 by the Delhi Development Authority following the apex court’s direction. The DDA had carried out the demolition citing a Supreme Court order passed in a long-standing land encroachment dispute.
Following the demolition, large scale protests were organised by members of the Dalit community who follow Saint Guru Ravidas. The followers of the Saint Ravidas believe that Guru Ravidas had stayed at the temple site after it was given to him in 1509 by Sikander Lodhi.
In their plea, the petitioners have contended that the site has religious significance for over 500 years, even before the Government of India or DDA came into being. The petitioners argue that the government, therefore, cannot say that the temple and the samadhis of Guru Saint Ravidas are encroaching upon the Government land.
The petitioners have urged the top court to restore the Ravidas Temple at the Tughlaqabad site. The matter is now listed for October 18.
