An appeal has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court's May 15 verdict that declared the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar as a Hindu temple.

One Qazi Moinuddin has approached the top court against the verdict.

The High Court had on May 15 held that the religious character of the structure is of a temple.

"The disputed area of Bhojshala complex and Kamal Maula Mosque is held to be a protected monument. The religious character of the disputed area of the Bhojshala complex and Kamal Maula Mosque is held to be Bhojshala with a temple of Goddess Saraswati," the High Court said in its judgment.

In light of the same, the Bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi quashed the order passed by Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2003 by which Muslims had been granted permission to hold prayers at the site.

Muslims may apply to the State for alternative site for construction of mosque, the High Court said.

The High Court ruled that historical literature and archeological references established the site as a centre of Sanskrit learning with the existence of a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.

The Court said that it relied on archeological and historical facts and arrived at the conclusion based on the precedent laid down by the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya case.

The Government of India (GoI) and the ASI were directed to decide on the administration and management of the affairs of temple.

ASI will continue to have overall administration and management of the property, the Court added.

As regards the prayer made by the Hindu petitioner to bring back the idol of Goddess Saraswati which was taken away by British, the Government of India may consider the same as a representation, the Court directed.

It passed the verdict on a batch of petitions which sought to reclaim the Bhojshala complex for Hindus and to prohibit Muslims from offering namaaz in its premises.

The petitions before the High Court challenged an ASI notification dated April 7, 2003, which allowed Muslims to offer namaz within Bhojshala complex , and "restricting the right of Hindus to worship within the aforesaid premises."

In one petition filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the petitioner, the Hindu Front for Justice stated that it is "espousing the cause of Hindu community for enforcement of right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 and right to conserve cultural heritage under Article 29 of the Constitution of India."

The plea sought to re-establish the idol of Goddess Saraswati (Vagdevi) which was established by King Bhoj in the year 1034 A.D but taken to London by the British after it was desecrated.

The petitioners further alleged that the ASI allowed Muslims to offer prayers within the temple complex on their "illegal demand on the ground that the Muslim rulers had constructed Kamal Maula Mosque at the said place."

In 2024, pursuant to an order of the High Court to conduct a survey, the ASI in a report filed before the High Court said that its investigation and study at the Bhojshala complex revealed that the "existing structure was made from the parts of earlier temples.

The High Court then proceeded to inspect the site before giving its verdict.