Ishika Kumar, Pune
On 25th September 2024, the Allahabad High Court in Prayagraj fixed 30th September as the next date of hearing for the Krishna Janmabhoomi – Shahi Idgah dispute at Mathura.
The plaintiffs who are from the Hindu side had filed a petition and moved an application for an amendment in it, following which the decision for the next hearing was fixed. Justice Mayank Kumar Jain is simultaneously hearing 18 consolidated suits.
On 1st August 2024, the Allahabad HC rejected the plea which challenged the maintainability of those 18 suits regarding the temple and mosque dispute in Mathura. The ruling was in favour of the plaintiffs, wherein the court ruled that the Shahi Idgah mosque’s dispute needs to be concluded by determination of its “religious character”, in order to resolve the same. The HC had also dismissed the contention of the Muslim side.
The contention deemed the suits filed by the Hindu litigants of the dispute over the Shahi Idgah mosque complex violative of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 and was thus non-maintainable. The complex is adjoined with the temple. This Act of 1991 mainly prohibits alterations in the so-called religious character of any shrine from its state of existence on the day of the country’s independence. The law exempts from its purview the Ram Janmabhoomi and the Babri Masjid dispute.
The 18 suits filed by the Hindu plaintiff’s side seek the supposed “removal” of the Mosque. They claim that it was built post demolishing a temple that once upon a time stood there, before the Mughal rule of Aurangzeb. According to them, this temple, which was believed to be there, was the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The HC’s judgement had propounded that this Act of 1991 did not particularly define the term “religious character”, and the term “disputed” per se. Hence, a place cannot possibly have the dual religious character of a temple and that of a mosque, which are in turn “adverse to each other”, at the same time. The high court judge had stated that “Either the place is a mosque or a temple. Thus, I find that the religious character of the disputed place as it existed on 15th of August 1947, is to be determined by both, documentary and oral evidence led by the parties”.
This controversy is related to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb era Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura, it was stirred when allegations of it being built after demolishing a temple at the birthplace of Lord Krishna came in. However, the defendant or respondent side i.e. the Muslims, represented by the management committee of the Shahi-Idgah and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board has opposed it on various grounds.