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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh to investigate the shocking vandalism of the Taj Mahal monument in Agra by activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing on Sunday.
Taking serious note of the reports and photographs of unruly BJP activists who went on the rampage at the 17th century monument, the apex court directed the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to submit a report within two weeks about the steps taken to prevent such incidents in future.
Judges M B Shah and D Raju expressed deep anguish over the incident and observed that the monument does not belong to any particular community or party but to the whole of India and all the communities.
Advocate Vijay Panjwani had brought the issue to the notice of the court.
On October 13 and 14, thousands of BJP activists attending a political convention in Agra entered the Taj Mahal with their shoes on and raised slogans against terrorism, while going berserk in the otherwise placid complex.
They harassed women, urinated in public, plucked flowers and rinsed their mouths in the fountains as officials watched helplessly.
The Taj, which had been opened to visitors free of charge for three days beginning Friday to commemorate the Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who built the monument in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, looked completely ravaged after the incident that lasted for an hour and a half.
The fountains leading up to the world-heritage monument that had been renovated for the India-Pakistan summit in July were completely defiled.
The attackers also plucked flowers from the exquisite gardens and attempted to leave their signatures all over the famous marble mausoleum.
Some activists went on a teasing spree, picking out foreign women who looked completely disgusted, while others raised slogans and scribbled on the back wall of the marble monument.
About 100 security personnel armed with batons watched helplessly as the activists completely took over the complex. A few were detained for teasing women and attacking the security personnel.
This is the second incident of mob invasion into the world-heritage monument.
In September, a group of lawyers demanding that a bench of the Allahabad High Court be set up in western Uttar Pradesh, had also run amok inside the monument.
The court had then given four weeks time to the Centre to explain steps taken to prevent such incidents.
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