HC junks plea to scrap Class 12 textbook's content on Mughal rulers

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday nixed a plea seeking directions to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove and rectify a portion of a Class 12 History textbook which is related to the policies of Mughal rulers grant for construction of temples.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said it "cannot decide on policies of Aurangzeb and Shah Jahan". Further, remarking that the PIL was wasting judicial time, the court has allowed the withdrawal of the plea.

In the PIL, petitioners Sanjeev Vikal and Dapinder Singh stated that the Class 12 History book "The Themes of Indian History" contains a paragraph -- "Even when temples were destroyed during the war, grants were later issued for the repairs as we know from the reigns of Shah-Jahan and Aurangzeb" -- which they want court's directions for its removal

"It has now become questionable that in the absence of any physical proof or record, how NCERT could promote misconception in the minds of an indefinite number of students and the ironically same has been carried out since last many decades," Advocate Baisla, representing the petitioners, submitted.

"It is 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 the Islamic religion," the petition read.