A day after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declared the disputed Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex at Dhar a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, Hindu devotees on Saturday offered prayers at the site.Devotees, along with office-bearers of the Bhoj Utsav Samiti, gathered on the premises, where the Hanuman Chalisa was recited with full rituals.The High Court on Friday granted the Hindu side the right to worship at the complex and recognised it as belonging to Raja Bhoj.“We are delighted that we were able to have darshan and there was no fee, unlike previous times. Now the entire Hindu society can conduct a pooja every day… We are elated after yesterday’s verdict and all of us were crying and dancing with joy,” a devotee told the media.Bhoj Utsav Samiti member Rajesh Shukla, a primary petitioner in the case, urged the Muslim side to graciously accept the court’s verdict.Lawyer Aviral Vikas Khare, representing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), highlighted the legal framework of the decision. “The key highlights of this order are that the Bhojshala site has been designated as a ‘protected monument’, a status it has held since the year 1904. This implies that the entire administration and regulation of this monument shall remain exclusively with the ASI,” he said.Meanwhile, representatives of the Muslim community said they would approach the Supreme Court against the verdict. They also accused the heritage conservation body of submitting a “deeply flawed and biased” survey report to the court.Dhar city Qazi Waqar Sadiq rejected the court’s recommendation that the Muslim side could approach the state government for an alternative piece of land for building a mosque.The lawyers representing the Muslim petitioners had raised doubts over the fairness of the ASI report, alleged defects in the survey and questioned the lack of evidence regarding the destruction of a Saraswati temple.Referring to the historical record, senior advocate Salman Khurshid had argued that there was no direct evidence that a Bhojshala temple had been demolished to construct the Kamal Maula mosque.Meanwhile, the CPI(M) on Saturday expressed grave concern over the Bhojshala verdict and its wider implications for the secular and democratic foundations of the Indian republic.It said that by setting aside the ASI order granting Muslims the right to pray at the complex, the judgment echoed the arguments made by the Supreme Court in the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi title suit and was bound to have a significant bearing on similar disputes.