Shahi Idgah Masjid in Mathura. (Photo: Creative Commons)Hours after a special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted all 32 accused in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case, a Mathura civil court in Uttar Pradesh dismissed the suit seeking removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid on claims that it was built on Krishna Janmabhoomi or the birthplace of Hindu god Lord Krishna.
The order was passed by Additional District Judge Chhaaya Sharma. The court refused to entertain the plea citing the bar on admitting the case under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The plaintiff, described as Bhagwan SriKrishna Virjman at Katra Keshav Dev Khewat, Mauja Mathura Bazaar City, had moved the civil suit through Ranjana Agnihotri and six other devotees of Lord Shri Krishna. Lawyers Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Jain had filed the petition.
The respondents of the suit are UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and Committee of Management Trust of Shahi Masjid Idgah.
The suit reads: “He is minor. He is a juristic person. He can sue and be sued through shebait and in his absence through next friend. It can own, acquire and possess the property. It has every right to protect its property and to recover its lost property through shebait and in absence of shebait through next friend by availing an appropriate remedy in Court of law.”
The plea alleged that the Masjid Trust Idgah, with the help of some Muslims, put super structure and encroached upon the land of Katra Keshav Dev belonging to Shree Krishna Janmasthan Trust and the deity and added that “it is there without any authority”.
According to the petition, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who ruled over India from July 31, 1658, to March 3, 1707 AD, “had issued orders for the demolition of a large number of Hindu religious places and temples.” “This was including the temple standing at the birthplace of Lord Shree Krishna at Katra Keshav Dev, Mathura in the year 1669-70 (Sixteen Sixty Nine- Seventy) AD. The army of Aurangzeb partly succeeded to demolish Keshav Dev Temple and construction was forcibly raised showing the might of power and said construction was named as Idgah Mosque,” the petition read.
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