Revision as of 19:04, 23 December 2023

A backgrounder

Dec 16, 2023: The Times of India

What the Mathura idgah row is all about

As SC refused to stay the Allahabad HC’s order allowing a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque premises adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, TOI puts a spotlight on the decades old dispute:


 Hindu Side’s Claim


Raja Veer Singh Bundela of Orchha built a temple on 13.37-acre land in 1618. The Shahi Idgah mosque, which exists now, was constructed in 1670 on the site of this temple after destroying it, on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. This is mentioned in the official court bulletin of February 1670, the petitions say. They claim the mosque was built in a complex which Shahi Idgah shares with Katra Keshav Dev Temple, close to the spot known as ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’. Asking for the removal of the mosque, petitioners’ advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain said a lotus-shaped pillar, which is characteristic of Hindu temples, exists on the mosque premises. This proved that the structure in fact was a temple, the pleas say. The applications also submitted that Hindu religious symbols and engravings, characteristic of a temple, are visible at the base of the pillar. Also, an image of Hindu deity ‘Sheshnag’ is there.


Counterclaims


Two defendants, Shahi Idgah mosque committee and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, claimed that the Shahi Idgah mosque does not fall within the ambit of 13.37-acre land at Katra Keshav Dev. They also claimed that the petitioners’ contention that Krishna’s birthplace lies beneath the mosque was not based on facts and not supported by any documentary evidence.


What Was The Compromise?


Jugal Kishore Birla, who had purchased the 13.37-acre land from Raja Banaras, set up Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. In 1951, the land was placed in the custody of the trust with the condition that its property will never be sold or pledged. Thereafter, Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh was set up in 1956 to manage the affairs of the temple adjacent to the said land. In 1964, the Sangh filed a plea in a local court seeking restoration of the land. However, it reached a compromise with the masjid committee in 1968 conceding that it would have no right over the land concerned.


But the suit filed in 2020in a Mathura civil court byadvocate Ranjana Agnihotriand seven others has challenged this. The Hindu sidefiled petitions as the “nextfriend of Bhagwan SriKrishna Virajman”.The plea was rejected by acivil court, but the districtcourt later agreed to hear it,calling it ‘maintainable’.Within two and half years, 17more pleas were filed in thesame court. In May 2023, theHC summoned all the 18pleas to adjudicate.

YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

2020: Srikrishna Virajman files suit

Dhananjay Mahapatra, September 26, 2020: The Times of India

Spurred by the success of the 1989 civil suit filed by Ram Lalla Virajman in getting ownership of the disputed Ayodhya site in 2019, Srikrishna Virajman filed a civil suit in a Mathura court on Friday seeking ownership of the entire 13.37 acres of Krishna Janmabhoomi land and removal of Shahi Idgah Masjid.

The plaintiff, described as ‘Bhagwan Srikrishna Virajman at Katra Keshav Dev Khewat, Mauja Mathura Bazaar City’, moved the civil suit through next friend Ranjana Agnihotri and six other devotees.

After filing the suit, advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain told TOI, “This suit is being filed for removal of encroachment and superstructure illegally raised by committee of management of alleged Trust Masjid Idgah with the consent of Sunni Central Board of Waqf on land Khewat No.255 at Katra Keshav Dev, city Mathura belonging to deity Srikrishna Virajman.”

The disputed site, believed by many to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna, figures along with Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya and Gyanvapi Mosque next to Varanasi’s Vishwanath temple, among sites VHP has asked for to be restored to Hindus.

But what will come in the way of the suit being adjudicated is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which while exempting litigation for ownership of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land, barred courts from entertaining litigation that would alter the status quo of a religious place as it existed in 1947.

Also, after the Ayodhya verdict on November 9 last year, the Supreme Court had shut the door for fresh litigation to alter the status quo of sites such as those in Kashi and Mathura. However, the Hindu claimant for the Mathura site has, through Vishnu Shankar Jain, challenged in the SC the validity of the 1991 law for barring Hindu deities from reclaiming land which belonged to them and on which temples existed prior to their demolition by Muslim rulers.

The fresh suit also said, “UP Sunni Waqf Board, Trust Masjid Idgah or any member of Muslim community have no interest or right in the property of Katra Keshav Dev over an area measuring 13.37 acres and entire land vests in the deity Bhagwan Srikrishna Virajman.”