Today, On 11th February, A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the Hindu Maha Shivaratri puja at the Ladle Mashaik Dargah, urging the Court to protect the site and stop any actions or alterations that may change its religious character.
A petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court seeking to prohibit the conduct of Hindu Maha Shivaratri puja at the Ladle Mashaik Dargah and requesting orders to prevent any modifications that could alter its current religious identity.
The matter was presented to a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, representing the dargah, urged the Court to address the plea before the Maha Shivaratri on February 15.
She stated,
“There is an Aland Dargah in Gulbarga (Kalburgi, Karnataka). Now they want to have Shivaratri celebrations there. If we can have it heard before February 15,”
The Court indicated it would consider the request but expressed concern that such issues are increasingly being taken directly to the Supreme Court instead of first being addressed by the relevant High Courts.
CJI Kant remarked,
“Why is everything coming in Article 32? … The impression created is that pleas are coming because the law is convenient, and message going is that High Court is defunct. We will examine. Let’s see,”
The shrine involved in this dispute is linked to 14th-century Sufi saint Hazrat Shaikh Alauddin Ansari (Ladle Mashaik) and 15th-century Hindu saint Raghava Chaitanya, whose remains are interred there. The site also features a structure known as the Raghava Chaitanya Shivling.
Both Hindus and Muslims have worshipped at the site. However, tensions arose in 2022 regarding worship rights after reports emerged of feces being thrown on the Shivling by some miscreants.
In February 2025, the Karnataka High Court allowed 15 members from the Hindu community to perform Shivaratri puja at the Raghava Chaitanya Shivaling under heavy security measures.
The previous year, Hindu pujas during Shivaratri were successfully conducted without incidents, following a High Court order that permitted 15 Hindus to enter the dargah and perform rituals.
The petition claims that there is a concerted effort to alter the religious character of the site by obtaining interim court orders.
The petition alleges,
“It is respectfully submitted that the pattern is unmistakable and deeply troubling. What cannot be proved through evidence and adjudication is sought to be manufactured through interim orders sought from the High Court. What is barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 is sought to be achieved through police-facilitated entry during festivals,”
The petition further states that in 1968, the Town Municipal Council of Aland rejected an application for constructing a Samadhi/Temple within the Dargah premises, noting that the site was the Mazaar of Hazrat Mardan-e-Gaib and surrounded by Muslim graves, without any documented basis for non-Wakf construction.
Despite this established status, there have been repeated attempts to reopen the religious character of the shrine through civil litigation, all of which have been unsuccessful.
When legal avenues proved ineffective, communal mobilization efforts emerged. On February 1, 2022, the Shree Siddalingaswamy Karuneswar Temple at Andola announced an “Aland Chalo” padayatra aimed at cleansing a Shivalinga at the Mazaar during Mahashivaratri.
When the Karnataka Wakf Tribunal prohibited this, attempts were made to invalidate the restraining order through festival-specific petitions seeking permission for puja during Mahashivaratri, the petition claims.
The plea states,
“Each proceeding is timed strategically, each invokes a different forum, and each is designed to create a foothold that the next proceeding can build upon,”
The latest attempt, as per the Dargah’s petition, is a writ filed by Sidramayya Hiremath in 2026 before the Karnataka High Court, seeking to allow him and other devotees to perform puja at the Dargah on February 15 (Mahashivaratri), along with police protection.
A similar petition was submitted in 2025 by the same individual, where the High Court allowed 15 individuals to conduct puja on Mahashivaratri.
The plea claims,
“These petitions are being filed year after year around Shivaratri only to create a foothold of religious entry, convert temporary access into an asserted practice, and thereafter reopen the character of the site through repeated litigation,”