HC admits petition against ban on visit to Afzal Khan’s tomb

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Tuesday admitted a petition seeking revocation of ban on visit to the tomb of Afzal Khan, the 17th century general serving the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, at the foot of Pratapgarh fort in Satara district of Maharashtra. The petition will come up for final hearing in due course. The bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka however did not lift the ban imposed by the government in 2007 as of now. Khan was slain by King Shivaji at the foot of the fort after the Bijapur army laid siege to it. Subsequently Khan’s tomb came up there. Government had to ban the access to it when communal tension flared up in the area some years ago. Petitioner is ‘Maharashtra Lokarpan’, a magazine, through its editor Farid Daware.