Delhi HC slams petition against content on Mughal rulers in NCERT book

Petitioners, both students, withdraw PIL unconditionally

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition demanding removal of a para in the Class XII NCERT history textbook where it is mentioned that Mughal rulers such as Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb gave grants for repair of temples.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh came down heavily on the two petitioners — one 15-year-old student and another 20-year-old student — for wasting the time of the court with such a plea.

The petition reproduced the para in the history textbook titled ‘The Themes In Indian History Part -2’, which reads — “Even when temples were destroyed during war, grants were later issued for their repair by Mughal emperors Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb”.

Reacting to the plea, the Bench questioned the petitioners how was it going to review the 400-year-old policies of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.

“You [petitioners] say you have a problem with the fact that Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb had no such policy for giving grants for temple repair. We are unable to decide the present policies of the Government; you are pointing to some errors committed by Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. This is a waste of time of court,” the Bench said. (How can correcting history that too of our own country be called a waste of time? Teaching incorrect history has a serious impact on the future generation as they will grow up with wrong ideals. – Editor, Hindujagruti.org)

The court refrained from imposing cost on the petitioners — Sanjeev Vikal and Dapinder Singh — after they sought permission to withdraw their plea unconditionally. “Seems like you guys sleep at night and file PIL the next morning on whatever random idea that comes to your mind. (The petitioners should be commended for their pride in history, nation, and Dharma, and their desire to correct the wrongs in history. – Editor, Hindujagruti.org) It is happening only in Delhi High Court. Do people think the High Court has such free time,” the Bench observed.

Mr. Vikal and Mr. Singh, who claimed to be “hardworking and sincere students”, stated that they filed an RTI application before the public information officer (PIO) of NCERT on the source from which the para was inserted in the textbook.

The PIO replied that the “information is not available in the files of the department”, the petitioner said.

No valid source

The students, in the petition, claimed that the paragraph was published without any valid source of information and was inserted just to glorify the reign of Mughal emperors. They claimed that since NCERT does not have any valid source of information, “it cannot be called historical”.

“All these baseless and concocted information can lead to the situation of sedition and development of riots cases across the country. It will also end the harmony and peace of the society,” the plea said. (It is a matter of great shame that decades after independence, efforts have not been made to present and teach the true history.  This situation can only be remedied in the Hindu Rashtra. – Editor, Hindujagruti.org)

“It is a well-known fact that most of the Mughals emperors levied heavy taxes upon the performance of the religious ceremony and pilgrim tours from the people who belong to Hindu religion. It is not a new fact that the Mughal emperors also compelled the non-Muslim people to get converted to Islamic religion,” it added.

Source : The Hindu