Krishna Janmabhoomi: Mathura court accepts plea seeking removal of mosque 

LUCKNOW: A Mathura court on Friday admitted a petition seeking the removal of Shahi Idgah Masjid, the mosque situated adjacent to Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi. 

The petition was filed by advocate Ranjana Agnihotri, the next friend of Shri Krishna Lala Virajman in Mathura district court. The petitioner also appealed to the court to get 13.37 acre land of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi vacated.

The 'next friend' is a legal term for a person who represents someone directly unable to maintain a suit.

Last month, a Mathura civil court had dismissed a similar petition filed to seek the removal of the mosque alleging it was built over Krishna Janmabhoomi. The court of district judge Sadhna Rani Thakur on Friday accepted the petition and posted the matter for the next hearing on November 18.

Meanwhile, the court also issued notices to all the parties concerned including the Sunni Central Waqf Board and management of Shahi Idgah Masjid.

A group of senior advocates including Ranjana Agnihotri and Delhi-based Vishnu Shankar Jain and Hari Shankar had moved the Mathura court seeking removal of 17th century Shahi Idgah mosque which they claimed was built at the birthplace of Lord Krishna within the 13.37-acre premises of the Katra Keshav Dev temple in Mathura.

The earlier petition, filed in the court of Senior Civil Judge Chhaya Sharma, had also demanded the annulment of a 1968 Mathura court ruling ratifying a land deal reached between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Idgah Management Committee.

The suit was filed last month on behalf of child deity Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman through the next friend Ranjana Agnihotri and seven others.  The defendants in the case were the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, and Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan.

While the district judge admitted the petition after a prolonged hearing on Friday, senior civil judge Chhaya Sharma had dismissed the petition on September 30 during the first hearing saying the petition was not tenable to be accepted as the devotes did not have the right to file such a petition to seek removal
of the mosque.