Mathura dispute: Setback for Muslim side in Allahabad High Court
#News Bureau August1,2024
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed the Muslim side’s petition challenging the cases in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura. Justice Mayank Kumar Jain had reserved the decision in this case, which was pronounced on Thursday. The court did not accept any of the arguments of the Muslim side.
Commenting on the High Court’s Thursday decision, Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer of the Hindu side, said that if the Muslim side goes to the Supreme Court, they are ready. We are going to put a caveat there.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, counsel for the Hindu side, said, “Today (August 1) the Allahabad High Court has dismissed the Order 7 Rule 11 application filed by Shahi Idgah Masjid and held that all these 18 suits are not barred under the Places of Worship Act… The next date of hearing is August 12. This order means that the suits will proceed and the intention and attempt to interfere in the suit on the issue of maintainability has been rejected. We will file a caveat in the Supreme Court and if Shahi Idgah Masjid approaches the Supreme Court, we will be there too.”
Several suits have been filed seeking the “removal” of the Shahi Idgah Masjid, located near the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The litigants claim that the Aurangzeb-era mosque was built after demolishing a Krishna temple. The masjid management committee had challenged these suits in its petition.
On behalf of the Muslim side, the Masjid Management Committee and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had argued that the cases should be dismissed under the Places of Worship Act, 1991. The Muslim side told the court that the litigants themselves have accepted the fact that the mosque in question was built in 1669-70.
A common demand in the Hindu side’s cases includes that the Shahi Idgah Mosque be “removed” from the premises of 13.37 acres of land shared with the Katra Keshav Dev temple in Mathura. Other petitions include a demand for possession of the Shahi Idgah complex.
What is the Mathura dispute: The Mathura dispute is more than eight decades old and the ownership of 13.37 acres of land has been challenged in the court. Shahi Idgah is located here. The petitioners are demanding the removal of the Shahi Idgah, built in the 17th century, from the campus of the Katra Keshav Dev temple. They claim that the mosque was allegedly built on the birthplace of Krishna. The mosque was built in 1669-70 on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust is fighting the case on the basis of faith.
The petitioners are not willing to accept the 1968 agreement that was signed between the land owner Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh, the temple management and the Shahi Idgah Masjid Trust. As part of that 1968 agreement, the temple authority handed over part of the land to the Idgah.
The petitioners say that the agreement has no legal validity. Because the Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, which has the ownership and title of the place, is not a party to it. The court should order the transfer of the land on which the mosque was built to the deity.
Like the Gyanvapi Masjid dispute, the Krishna Janmabhoomi case gained momentum after the Supreme Court verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in 2019. Although the RSS had earlier promised that no dispute would be raised after Ayodhya, the organizations associated with the RSS started making strong statements after the 2019 verdict on Kashi and Mathura.
The first petition in the Mathura case was filed in September 2020 in the Mathura Civil Court by Lucknow resident Ranjana Agnihotri and six others on behalf of “Lord Sri Krishna Virajman”. They had demanded that the mosque be removed and the land be returned to the Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. However, the civil judge dismissed the suit on September 30, 2020, rejecting it. Quoting the judge’s decision, PTI reported at that time – The judge said that none of the petitioners were from Mathura and hence they had no legitimate stake in the case.
