On Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition challenging the demolition of the tomb of Afzal Khan, situated in Pratapgarh, Satara, Maharashtra on November 11.
Advocate Nizam Pasha presented the matter before a bench consisting of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala who took notice of the submission filed that the tomb of Afzal Khan, the commander of the Adil Shahi dynasty, who was buried in 1659, was being demolished since it was illegally built on forest land.
Advocate Pasha requested status quo direction orally, however, the CJI suggested that there would be no need for it because the application would be heard the next day.
Justice Pardiwala questioned when the structure came into existence, to this counsel Pasha informed that the land was granted to the Dargah management committee in 1959.
To this, Justice Pardiwala asked, “How did the shrine of a person who died in the 1600s come up in 1959.”
Justice JB Pardiwala: structure came up when?
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) November 10, 2022
Pasha: since 1959 the land was given to the dargah management committee
Pardiwala: The person died in 1600s and how did that Shrine come up in 1959. This is all encroachment and this is a forest land. How did the tomb come?
Notably, the application has been filed by Haz Mohammed Afzal Khan Memorial Society. The petition was filed after media outlets reported that demolition work is being carried out around the tomb of Afzal Khan.
The application asks the Supreme Court to issue appropriate orders to protect Afzal Khan’s tomb, which has stood on the site since before November 1659. The application was filed via AoR, Mr. Lzafeer Ahmad.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court was served with a Public Interest Litigation on the issue. The Court, among other things, determined that the tomb was located in a forest area and ordered its demolition.
Following that, a contempt petition was filed, informing the High Court that, despite its order, the authorities had not cleared the unauthorized constructions in the forest area, particularly in Pratapgarh.
Afzal Khan was an army general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of the Bijapur Sultanate. He was engaged in the Bijapur Sultanate’s southern expansion and was killed by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on November 20, 1659.
