Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 19: The High Court today sought information of excavation sites and heritage monuments from the authorities in Kashmir valley.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Badar Durez Ahmad and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey while hearing PIL on protection and preservation of artifacts directed the authorities to prove it the status of excavation sites as also the list of heritage monuments by next date of hearing which the court notified as June 7.
“The status report shall also indicate the various excavations sites in Kashmir and their status. A list of heritage monuments shall also be provided”, DB directed.
Court also sought information about the installation of CCTV cameras in and around the SPS museum and whether these cameras are operational or not. “Further, more the status report shall clearly indicate whether proper security is in place to ensure that no pilferage or theft of valuable artifacts takes place from the museum”, DB directed.
Court also directed for filing of status report indicating therein clearly whether the inventory and record of all the artifacts lying in the museum have been prepared along with photographs or not. “If not, the same shall be done immediately. If such an inventory with photographs has been prepared, a copy of the same be shown to this court and another copy be filed in a sealed cover which shall be retained by this court”, read the order.
Meanwhile, Senior Advocate R A Jan, who was present in the court when the matter was being heard by the division bench, at the request of court he agreed to be amicus curie to the matter and court directed the registry to provide a complete set of the order sheet and other papers pertaining to this case to him within a week.
This PIL pertained to the SPS museum Srinagar, excavation sites and heritage monuments Kashmir. In so far as the SPS museum is concerned, the petition started with regard to missing/stolen artifacts from the museum way back in 2003.
Advocate Jan after appointing amicus to the PIL submitted that the four hundred old manuscript of Holy Quran bearing the seal of Emperor Aurangzeb has been stolen in broad day light during office hours. It is in the month of September last year the investigation with regard to theft of the Quran was transferred to CBI from Crime Branch after Inspector General of Police made the statement that the investigation has not been carried fairly by Crime Branch and further added before the court that CBI can properly and effectively investigate the case as the said agency (CBI) besides having technical manpower is also possessed of resources and expertise to conduct the investigation in such type of cases as such he (IGP) suggested that the instant case should be transferred to CBI for investigation.
Court in this regard had directed the Crime Branch, Kashmir to handover the record of the case to the authorities of the CBI. Trial court has also been directed to handover the case diaries pertaining to the case to Crime Branch so as to enable the CB to hand over the same to CBI.
It is pleaded that apart from the manuscript of Holy Quran which is believed to have been hand written by the Mughal Emperor, 84 coins among them 8 are of gold and 76 are of silver are also missing from the museum.
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