A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said the community must be permitted to offer prayers at the alternative site between 1 pm and 3 pm every Friday. Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana were also part of the bench.
The arrangement is temporary and will remain subject to the final outcome of the appeals. The court made clear that allocating the space would not strengthen or weaken the claims advanced by either religious community in the underlying dispute.
The bench issued notices on three petitions challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s May 15 judgment declaring the religious character of the complex to be that of a temple dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi, also known as Saraswati. The High Court had ended the practice of Muslims offering Friday prayers within the monument.
The Supreme Court declined to suspend the High Court judgment at this stage. It nevertheless intervened to prevent the Muslim community from being left without an accessible place for its established congregational prayers near the contested premises.
The court told the state administration to identify an open area adjacent to the complex and make suitable arrangements. The direction places responsibility on authorities in Dhar to manage entry, security and public order without allowing the temporary arrangement to disrupt access to the protected monument.
The bench indicated that it was prepared to conduct hearings on a day-to-day basis because of the sensitivity of the dispute. It also directed that no structural alteration should be carried out at the monument by the Archaeological Survey of India without prior permission from the Supreme Court.
The petitioners have challenged the High Court’s findings on historical, archaeological and legal grounds. They contend that documentary records establish centuries of Muslim worship at the Kamal Maula Mosque and that the judgment abruptly dismantled a regulated system that had operated for more than two decades.
Under an Archaeological Survey of India order issued on April 7, 2003, Hindus were allowed to conduct worship at the complex on Tuesdays, while Muslims were permitted to offer namaz there on Fridays. Visitors could enter the monument on the remaining days under official supervision.
The High Court quashed that arrangement after considering the findings of an archaeological survey ordered in March 2024. It held that the premises were historically associated with Raja Bhoj, Sanskrit learning and the worship of Vagdevi. The judgment also directed central authorities to determine the future administration and management of the site.
The Muslim parties argue that the survey findings and historical material were interpreted selectively. They maintain that the complex contains a functioning mosque with a long record of religious use and that an administrative arrangement governing shared access could not be invalidated without adequately protecting established worship rights.
Hindu petitioners, including organisations seeking unrestricted worship at Bhojshala, have relied on inscriptions, sculptures, architectural remains and literary references linking the structure to a temple and centre of learning associated with the 11th-century Parmar ruler Raja Bhoj.
The Archaeological Survey of India conducted scientific investigations, excavations and architectural studies at the site after the High Court ordered an examination aimed at clarifying the monument’s character. Its findings described material connected with earlier Hindu and Jain structures, including sculptural and inscriptional remains.
Muslim representatives disputed the conclusions drawn from those discoveries, arguing that reused architectural material was common in medieval construction and could not by itself determine the identity or continuous religious character of the entire complex.
Bhojshala is designated as a monument of national importance and remains under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India. The dispute has periodically generated communal tension, particularly when the Hindu festival of Basant Panchami has fallen on a Friday, creating competing demands for access.
