You will decide history? SC to a petitioner seeking removal of wrongful history about the Taj Mahal from textbooks

Case: Surjit Yadav v. Union of India and ors

Bench: Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar

An appeal to remove the 'wrong history' about the Taj Mahal from textbooks was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Monday.

Court took exception to the kind of prayers made, including one directing ASI to determine the actual age of the Agra monument.

"See your prayer. Remove wrong facts? You'll decide that?" the judges commented.

The petitioner was allowed to file representations with the relevant authorities.

It is not the first time the Taj Mahal has been litigated in the Supreme Court. In October, the same Court had dismissed a plea seeking to open certain rooms of the Taj Mahal to settle claims that it was a Shiva temple named Tejo Mahalaya. 

The plea, filed by BJP Ayodhya media in-charge Dr. Rajneesh Singh, was deemed a 'publicity interest litigation.'

Earlier, the same petitioner had argued before the Allahabad High Court that many Hindu groups and historians had claimed that the Taj Mahal was an old Shiva temple. According to some, these claims have caused Hindus and Muslims to fight with each other, and therefore, the controversy must be resolved.

Six advocates filed a suit in Agra in 2017 alleging that the Taj Mahal was a temple palace, but the Central government called the claim "concocted" and "self-built".