Send 3 reps to park to see Rani of Jhansi statue: Delhi HC to Shahi Idgah panel

The Delhi high court said the Shahi Idgah committee representatives could visit the park on Saturday and fixed October 7 as the next date of hearing

NEW DELHI: `The Delhi high court on Friday asked the Shahi Idgah Managing Committee to send three representatives to the Shahi Idgah park in the Sadar Bazar area to see if it wanted to suggest a different location for the statue of Rani of Jhansi in the park.

Police officers at the Shahi Idgah park where the statue of Rani Laxmibai was brought from Karol Bagh (HT Photo/ Sanchit Khanna)

A bench of chief justice Manmohan and justice Tushar Rao Gedela passed the order after being told that the statue at the centre of the case was shifted from the Jhandewalan roundabout in Karol Bagh to the park on Wednesday. The court asked the representatives to visit the park on Saturday and fixed October 7 as the next date of hearing, saying that it would pass an order in case the committee still did not agree to the statue.

“In case you are agreeable (to the installation of the statue) we can finish it, maybe at some different location (inside the park). If you are agreeable, we can do it…We can take it up on Monday. Get it resolved. Take a team. We’ll pass the order in case the (committee) is not agreeable,” a bench of chief justice Manmohan and justice Tushar Rao Gedela told the Idgah committee after being told that the statue was relocated from Karol Bagh to the Idgah park on Wednesday.

The Delhi Development Authority, which owns the area surrounding the Idgah including the Shahi Idgah park, said the civic body did not want to hurt the sentiments of any community and had installed the statue in a different part of the park.

The Idgah committee had petitioned the high court to oppose the installation of the statue in the park but the high court indicated on Tuesday that there did not appear to be any reason to oppose the installation of the statue of Rani Laxmibai, a national hero, in the park.

The bench also asked senior advocate Viraj Datar, who appeared for the committee, at Tuesday’s hearing if it was agreeable to installing the statue in the inner corner section of the Shahi Idgah Park in Sadar Bazar. The court had added that it would pass orders if the committee didn’t agree,