UP Govt Denies Permission for Centuries-Old Jeth Mela in Bahraich, No Interim Relief From HC

New Delhi: The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has justified its decision to deny permission to the centuries-old Jeth Mela (fair) held in Bahraich saying that it was not interfering in religious activities inside the shrine, but held the right to put reasonable restrictions on secular activities organised outside the campus.

The Allahabad high court has refused to provide interim relief to the shrine's caretakers, in light of intelligence inputs cited by the government concerning the law and order situation in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.

The Jeth Mela is an annual month-long fair organised at the shrine of Saiyad Salar Masud Ghazi, a semi-legendary military figure from the 11th century, popularly believed to be a nephew of Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni.

The dargah was established in 1375 AD by Firoz Shah Tuglaq in the memory of Salar Masud. Muslims as well as Hindus visit the dargah during the ‘urs’ or mela. Apart from involving religious ceremonies, a large number of people visit the mela, providing livelihood to local residents who set up stalls during this time.

This year too the mela was to begin on May 15. The main ceremony, the symbolic wedding of Salar Masud, was scheduled on May 18. The Waqf land surrounding the dargah is spread over an area of about 1.5 square kms, though during the urs the devotees who come there reside in an area of 5 square kms, the dargah said.

However, authorities in Bahraich said they had denied permission for the fair from the point of view of law and order. A state of “protest and outrage” prevailed due to the Pahalgam terror attack, the protests against the Waqf Bill and the violence in Sambhal last year, said a senior police officer, adding that the decision was based on local intelligence inputs.

The caretakers of the dargah approached the Allahabad high court challenging the administration’s decision. They said that there was no requirement in law for seeking any permission for the mela and that since they did not seek any permission, there was no question of the administration denying them. The dargah sharif is exempted from operation of U.P. Melas Act, 1938 and The amended Waqf Act as of now lacks a provision under which the district magistrate could have passed such an order.

“The reasons given in the impugned order are irrelevant and extraneous to the holding of Urs and display predetermination and malafide on the part of the District Magistrate so as to prevent holding of such Urs with ulterior motive,” the dargah said. The Urs/Mela has been organized at the said place for the past several years but there never had been any law and order or other problem during the Urs. The dargah said that the administration’s order dated April 26 violated Articles 14, 19(1)(b), 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution of India.

The dargah informed the high court that the district administration was duty-bound to facilitate the urs under a government order from 1987 and that all expenses were to be borne by the concerned department. It was also bound to maintain law and order and it cannot in the garb of its incapacity to do so, violate the constitutional and legal rights of the believers and the members of the Waqf, said the dargah.

“The District Magistrate has no authority in law to interfere in holding of the Urs on the Waqf land or even beyond it. The Kumbh Mela and Devi Patan Mela have been organized recently without any glitch, therefore, there is no reason as to why the Urs at the Dargah Shariff should be prevented from being organized,” a lawyer appearing for the dargah submitted in court.

The state government said that the dargah had written to the administration asking for it to make necessary arrangements and it was in that context that relevant reports were sought from the local officials and intelligence units. In addition to this, prohibitory orders were already in place, it said. The state government said that religious activities inside the dargah campus were not being interfered with but stressed that the mela, which was being organised outside the campus, was a “secular” activity.

“What has been declined is permission to hold the mela outside dargah campus which primarily involves commercial activities such as allotment of shops for rent, etc., therefore, there is no violation of any constitutional or legal rights by the impugned order. Reasonable restrictions can always be put by the state in the interest of public orders, etc. as has been done herein,” a government counsel said.

A division bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla, while referring to the state government’s admission of its inability to provide necessary facilities and maintain law and order during such a large gathering, said that “how far the reasons are tenable or are they arbitrary and irrelevant,” was a matter which could only be decided after exchange of affidavits.

The court acknowledged that the dargah had raised “important questions” as to the authority of the DM to interfere in such matters or refuse to grant permission, but said that the order appeared to have been passed in response to the letter sent by the dargah’s caretakers.

“How far it is justified, whether it is malafide or violative of any constitutional or any other legal right are all issues which will require a response from the opposite parties, as, we cannot decide it on the first day,” the court said on May 7, as it declined to provide interim relief to the dargah.

The court will hear the matter next on May 14.

While authorities said the decision to deny permission for the fair was taken from the point of view of law and order, especially the atmosphere in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, the stage had already been set in March, when chief minister Yogi Adtiyanath, in a veiled reference to Masud Ghazi, had said that “glorification” of an “invader” amounted to “consolidating the foundation of treason.”

The syncretic culture of the mela contradicts the communal lens through which right-wing forces have projected the story of Salar Masud.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates have over the last few decades concertedly tried to superimpose the fable of Ghazi Mian into current politics and project him as a villainous character who was slayed by a backward caste Hindu warrior Maharaja Suheldev, iconised by the Rajbhar and Pasi communities today. The Hindutva version of communalising the Ghazi Mian story stands in contrast to the syncretic culture played out at his shrine.

While Muslims venerate Ghazi Mian as a saint, Hindus visit the shrine as they believe that praying there fulfills their wishes. Some communities also take out baraats (marriage processions) of Ghazi Mian as they believe he was slayed just before he was to get married. The Bharatiya Janata Party has tried to use the story of Suheldev, a legendary Bhar chieftain, to pit Dalits and Other Backward Caste communities against Muslims. In the RSS imagination, Suheldev was an archetype Hindutva foot-soldier who halted the Islamisation of the region for 150 years.

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