Madhya Pradesh court declares historic mosque a Hindu temple in controversial ruling
Bhopal: A court in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has declared the historic Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar district a Hindu temple, despite the site having functioned as a mosque for centuries, triggering fresh concerns over the rise of Hindutva and growing threats to Muslim religious heritage in India..
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex was historically a Hindu Saraswati temple, ending a 2003 arrangement under which Muslims offered Friday prayers at the site while Hindus worshipped there on Tuesdays. The judgment has also intensified concerns over the gradual erosion of the Places of Worship Act, 1991, enacted to prevent fresh religious disputes following the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
The division bench of Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi further suggested that Muslims could seek alternative land from the government to build a mosque elsewhere in Dhar district—a recommendation widely viewed as echoing the Indian Supreme Court’s controversial 2019 Babri Masjid verdict.
Muslim leaders and opposition figures sharply criticized the ruling, warning that courts are increasingly legitimizing majoritarian claims over Islamic-era religious sites. Indian parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi said the judgment carried “glaring similarities” to the Babri Masjid case.
The verdict follows a 98-day survey conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) after the High Court ordered a scientific examination of the site in 2024. Hindu petitioners claimed that the survey uncovered inscriptions, sculptures and architectural remains indicating the existence of an earlier temple structure. However, Muslim parties challenged the survey’s methodology, pointing to selective interpretation of evidence and procedural irregularities. Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, representing the Muslim side, argued there was no direct proof that a temple had been demolished to build the mosque. He also questioned why carbon dating — a standard scientific method used to determine the age of archaeological material — had not been conducted despite its importance to the dispute. He further said that the ASI altered portions of the structure during the survey process itself and that stairs and platforms within the mosque complex were removed despite judicial directions to preserve the site’s original condition.
Muslim organizations said they would challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.
The judgment comes amid a growing wave of petitions by Hindutva groups seeking ownership claims and surveys of historic mosques across India, alarming Muslim communities and constitutional experts who fear the judiciary is opening the door to wider challenges against Islamic religious sites.
Legal experts say such litigation undermines the spirit of India’s 1991 Places of Worship Act, which legally froze the religious character of all places of worship as they existed at the time of India’s independence in 1947. Despite that law, courts in recent years have increasingly permitted surveys and hearings related to mosque-temple disputes, alarming Muslim groups and constitutional scholars who fear the judiciary is opening the door to wider challenges against historic Islamic sites in the form of highly controversial verdicts.
For many Indian Muslims, the Kamal Maula Mosque verdict has revived fears of a troubling pattern in which historic mosque disputes are increasingly being used to advance Hindu nationalist agendas under Prime Minister Modi’s BJP-led government.
