A tour of the Taj Mahal left a bitter aftertaste for four tourists. The tourists were arrested on Thursday for offering 'namaz' at the mosque on the Taj Mahal premises, the police said.
The four men were spotted offering namaz at the Shahi mosque around 5 pm on Wednesday.
The plea was filed by Rajneesh Singh, a BJP youth media in charge, before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, which sought directions to the Archaeological Survey of India to probe the 22 closed doors in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of the idols of Hindu deities.?
"Namaz has been offered at the mosque of the Taj Mahal regularly. But some days ago, the ASI cited a Supreme Court order barring the offering of the namaz on the mosque premises except on Friday," said Ibrahim Zaidi, the head of the Intezamia Committee at Taj Mahal.
Zaidi said the committee has asked the ASI to put the prohibition in writing with proof and display a board announcing the ban on the tourists.
Dixit was quoted as saying, "They had no idea that they could not offer namaz. They did it by mistake. There was no notice board saying that it is prohibited. "
According to a Supreme Court order, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) said that offering the namaz inside the premises of the UNESCO-protected world heritage site is prohibited on all days except Friday.
The superintending archaeologist of the ASI, Agra Circle, Raj Kumar Patel, said even on Fridays, only residents of the Tajganj localityĄĒwhere the mausoleum is locatedĄĒare allowed to pray between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., according to a Supreme Court order.
Earlier in the month, the Taj Mahal made headlines after the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court rejected a plea seeking to open 22 closed rooms in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of the idols of Hindu deities.
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