Durgadi Fort not a mosque, owned by Maha govt, says Kalyan court

Pulling the curtains down on a 48-year-old legal battle, the Kalyan civil court has ruled that the disputed Durgadi Fort is owned by the Maharashtra government and rejected the claims on it put forth by the Majlis-E-Mushawarat Trust.

Soon after the verdict, the Trust authorities said that they would challenge the verdict in the Bombay High Court.

Kalyan court senior division civil judge A.S. Lanjewar held that the Trust's claim was time-barred and also upheld the state government's claim over the hilltop fortress.

Filing a suit to stake its claim in 1976, the Muslim trust contended that there is a Muslim prayer hall (mosque) and an idgah inside Durgadi Fort — which also houses a temple to the goddess Durga.

The dispute arose after a Thane district collector's report in 1966 indicated the presence of a Hindu temple inside the Fort, while the historic monument was under the administration of the state government since that year.

Over the past five decades, the Durgadi Fort became a big bone of contention due to its historical, cultural and religious significance to both Muslims and Hindus, but the court maintained a status quo in the matter for the past 58 years, said Sachin Kulkarni for the state government.

Thirty years ago (1994), the court had allowed the state public works department (PWD) to carry out certain urgent repair works to the fort with two bastions, on grounds that it belonged to the state government which had taken it over but subsequently transferred it to the Kalyan Municipal Corporation (KMC) for its upkeep.

However, since the KMC failed to comply, the state government again took it over, and now prior permission from the state government is mandatory for conducting any kind of activities, programmes, events, etc., there.

Kulkarni told the media that the judge also considered the unreasonable delay without sufficient justification as a reason for dismissing the case, and the court also rejected the Trust's plea to transfer the matter to the state waqf board.

Trust chairman Sharifuddin Karte contended that no hearings were conducted in the past 32 years, no evidence was examined or verified and the abrupt judgement came on 10 December, stating that the case is "time-barred" now.

He termed the whole thing as completely unjust and said they would challenge the verdict before a higher court after submitting evidence dating back over two centuries.

Kalyan Zone III deputy commissioner of police Atul Zende said that in view of the strong sentiments after the court order, the police have beefed up security in the town and also in the Durgadi Fort.

The president of the Hindu Manch, who is also the petitioner, Dinesh Deshmukh said that the Kalyan Court has rejected all the pleas of the Muslim trust, including transferring it to the waqf board for a hearing. Soon after the verdict, the Shiv Sena, Hindu Manch and other organisations performed a symbolic ‘aarti’ at the Durgadi Fort temple.

Ruling Mahayuti ally Shiv Sena Kalyan chief Ravi Patil said that the Durgadi Fort has a glorious history and was visited and later captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from the Nizam rulers in 1656.

Thereafter, 'Hindu hriday samrat' late Balasaheb Thackeray visited it in 1971 and pooh-poohed the claims of the Muslim community over it, Patil said, and contended that the idgah inside the fort is merely a wall, while the temple there is much older.