Gujarat HC dismisses PIL claiming conversion of dargah into temple at Pirana

While the state government, Ahmedabad collector, deputy collector, mamlatdar, district superintendent police, Aslali police station inspector and Imamshah Bawa Roza Trust were made respondent parties to the PIL, the court noted that the PIL had not impleaded the trustees and members managing the dargah.

The PIL, filed through the forum’s trustee Usman Haji Ahmed Qureshi, had stated that Pir Imamshah Bawa has now been converted to ‘Shree Nishkalnki Narayan Tirthdhaam Prnapih’, in contravention of the prohibition imposed by the Places of Worship Act.

CJ Agarwal, however, refused to hear the plea on merits until the petitioner was able to establish its locus standi and maintainability of the petition as a PIL.

While dismissing the PIL, CJ Agarwal orally told the petitioner’s counsel, “We are not on the issue of community in a PIL. We are not permitting you to make it a community issue… These are the issues created by persons who are unscrupulous litigants… They are creating a community situation, we are not permitting anyone to do this by giving our weight to it. Not a single answer to the maintainability of petition, on the management of property not being impleaded here, not a single answer here that there were disputes, which were raised before Waqf board, which were decided in favour of the trust… The issue is about a property, you are making it a communal issue… This is not a matter of PIL.”

Situated in the sensitive Pirana village, the Pir Imamshah Bawa Trust-run campus of the Sufi saint’s shrine originally consisted of a shrine of his four grandsons and a granddaughter, a mosque named after him, and a graveyard where Saiyeds, who are descendants of Pir Imamshah Bawa, are buried.

Three graves have now undergone changes – a few have been covered by concrete walls, the minarets have been modified, a wall has been built to bifurcate the graveyard and the dargah, idols have been installed and the karbala has vanished.

The PIL was moved last April after the district collector, in January 2022, granted permission for construction of wall by the Imamshah Bawa Roza Trust, comprising 11 members – three Saiyed Muslim trustees and eight Hindu trustees – without considering the objections of the Saiyed Muslim trustees and other beneficiaries.

The petition alleged that the “illegal and unlawful actions” of installing idols in the dargah premises is being undertaken by the Trust “in collusion with the respondent (state) authorities”.

It added that the Satpanthis – as Hindu followers of Pir Imamshah Bawa are called – have been managing the Trust “with sole motive to deprive Saiyed and other Muslims from performing religious rites and rituals and portraying Pir Imamshah Bawa as a Hindu saint”. It claimed that in February 2021, the Satpanthi trustees “surreptitiously demolished” the graves with tractor and only after police intervention were the graves restored.

The petition further said that following the district collector’s nod to replace a wired fence with a wall, there have been continuous “illegal” construction and conversion of the dargah. With the state authorities “acting in collusion” with the Satpanthi members of the Trust, “the dargah has now been converted into a temple with idol being installed”, replacing its “soul and essence”, it added.

The petition claimed that on April 10, 2022, Ram Navami was organised in the dargah campus and the VHP circulated videos appealing the Hindus to attend the same to show their strength. Claiming that VHP is organising bhajan at the dargah campus, the plea said that while Hindu festivals are being organised, “the Trust does not contemplate to conduct Muslim ceremonies”.