Supreme Court ordered to find ‘original names’ of old religious sites

Petition urges Supreme Court to instruct Center, States to update their website.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has filed a petition to set up a “Renaming Committee” to find out the original names of “ancient historical, cultural and religious sites” named after barbaric foreign invaders in order to uphold sovereignty and ensure the “right to dignity,” religious and cultural rights .

Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, through his advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, had lodged the request, seeking to issue appropriate directions to the Home Ministry to set up a “Renaming Committee” to find out the original names of “ancient historical cultural religious sites”, Named after a barbaric foreign invader to preserve sovereignty and ensure the “right to dignity, religion and culture” guaranteed by Articles 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution.

Alternatively, the petitioner has urged the court to direct the Archaeological Survey of India to study and publish the original names of ancient historical cultural religious sites that were renamed by brutal foreign invaders to ensure the “right to know” guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution.

The petition urges the court to direct the central and state governments to update their websites and records and refer to the original names of ancient historical cultural religious places named after barbaric foreign invaders.

“The harm done to the citizens is very great because Pandavas with the blessing of Lord Krishna and Balram converted Khandavaprastha (wasteland) into Indraprastha (Delhi) but not even a single road, municipal district, village or council constituency By Lord Krishna, Balram, Yudhishthira, Bheema, Arjun, Nakul, Sehdev, Kunti, Draupadi and Abhimanyu. On the other hand, building roads, municipal districts, villages and parliamentary constituencies in the name of barbaric foreign invaders is not only against sovereignty, But it also violates the rights to dignity, religion and culture guaranteed by Articles 21, 25 and 29 of the Indian Constitution,” the petitioner said.

The petitioners say that there are many ancient historical, cultural and religious sites that exist in the name of barbaric foreign invaders, their servants and their families. The aggressors have changed the names of not only general places but also ancient historical cultural and religious places and continue to do so after 75 years of independence in violation of sovereignty, dignity, religious rights and cultural rights.

“But the government has not yet taken steps to correct the barbaric behavior of the invaders, and the harm continues. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this PIL, seeking an order or direction to the Ministry of the Interior to form a renaming committee to find out the original Name cultural and religious sites, named after barbaric foreign invaders to ensure sovereignty, dignity, religion and cultural rights” are guaranteed by Articles 21, 25, 29. Alternatively, the court may direct the Archaeological Survey of India to study and publish the initial names of ancient historical cultural religious sites,” the plea said.

“The cause of action occurred on January 29 when the Mughal Gardens were renamed Amrit Gardens but the government did not take any steps to rename the roads named after the invaders like Babur Road, Humayun Road, Akbar Road, Jahangir Road , Shahjahan Road, Bahadur Shah Road, Sher Shah Road, Aurangzeb Road, Tughlak Road, Safdarjung Road, Najaf Khan Road, Jauhar Road, Lodhi Road, Chelmsford Road and Hailey Road etc. Protectors of Indian Constitution and fundamental rights on these roads Own a bungalow,” the petitioner said.

(Aside from the title, this story is unedited by NDTV staff and published via a syndicated feed.)