Qutub Minar is monument, not place of worship: ASI to Delhi court

In the midst of a legal struggle over the Gynvapi mosque and Mathura temple, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told a Delhi court on Tuesday that the Qutub Minar is "not a place of worship" and that alterations to the present building are not permitted.

The ASI further maintained that Qutub Minar is a monument and therefore no one may assert basic rights over it. It went on to say that "no freedom to worship can be provided at this location." The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) testified before a Delhi court that the Qutub Minar complex is a monument and that no one has a basic right to such constructions.

In response to a petition filed before the Delhi High Court seeking the restoration of 27 temples allegedly destroyed to build the Qutub Minar, the ASI stated in an affidavit that the Qutub Minar Complex is a monument and no right to worship can be granted at this location under the Ancient Monuments Act.

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The declaration comes amid a dispute sparked by ASI's ex-regional director Dharamveer Sharma's allegation that the Qutub Minar was built by Raja Vikramaditya, not Qutb al-Din Aibak, to study the sun's orientation.

Meanwhile, the Culture Ministry is contemplating performing an iconography of the Hindu and Jain statues discovered in Delhi's Qutub Minar complex, a senior official said on Monday, adding that there are no plans to dig the site or halt religious practises.

Earlier this month, right-wing activists protested near the Qutb Minar, brandishing banners and shouting slogans, asking that the complex be opened for prayer and the idols in the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque be reinstalled.

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• Ancient Monuments Act
• Delhi court
• Gynvapi mosque
• Qutub Minar
• Gynvapi mosque case