FIR lodged against unidentified women
AGRA: Caught in a tight spot after three women performed ‘aarti’ on Taj Mahal premises on Saturday, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has lodged an FIR at the Tajganj police station against unidentified persons in the matter.
Ankit Namdev, conservation assistant at Taj Mahal for ASI, said, “An FIR has been filed against unidentified women who performed ‘aarti’ on Taj Mahal premises on Saturday. The act was in violation of the acts and statutes enforceable at ancient monuments. So, a complaint was lodged at the Tajganj police station on Tuesday.” Namdev said that as the FIR was lodged on the basis of a video of the ‘aarti’ that was widely shared on the social media, no person had been named by the ASI. “We expect that the names of all those involved (in the act), including the person who made the video, would surface, and required action would be taken against them,” he said.
The move comes after the director general of ASI in Delhi took cognizance of the matter.
To recall, three women activists, allegedly led by the district unit president of the women’s wing of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal, Meena Diwakar, had performed ‘aarti’ at Taj Mahal on Saturday.
They were seen on Taj premises with ‘dhoopbatti’ (incense stick) and a match box, and claimed to have purified the premises of the mosque after a ‘namaz’ was offered at the monument on a week day (apart from the one on Friday).