The Allahabad High Court on 1st August ruled that the 18 lawsuits submitted by the Hindus in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Masjid dispute were maintainable, dealing a severe blow to the hope of the Muslim side. The suits aim to have the mosque removed from the 13.37-acre property that it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev temple.
The Muslim side argued that the Places of Worship Act, the Limitation Act and the Specific Relief Act prohibited the lawsuits, contesting the maintainability of the claims brought by the deity and Hindu parties.
The court pronounced that neither the Limitation Act nor the Places of Worship Act, among other laws, forbade lawsuits brought by the Hindu devotees or the deity. The court’s observation that each of the eighteen suits is maintainable opens the door for them to be considered based on their merits. The bench of Justice Mayank Kumar Jain had reserved the decision on 6th June.
“Today Allahabad High Court has rejected the application of order 7 rule 11 filed by Shahi Eidgah Masjid and held that all these 18 suits are not barred by the Places of Worship Act. The next date of hearing is 12th August. The result is that the trials will proceed and the intention and the effort to nib in the trial on the issue of maintainability has been rejected. We will file the caveat before the Supreme Court and if the Shahi Eidgah Masjid approaches the SC, we will be present there,” Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain informed.
#WATCH | Prayagraj: On Allahabad HC rejects Muslim side's plea challenging maintainability of Hindu suits, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain says, "Today Allahabad High Court has rejected the application of order 7 rule 11 filed by Shahi Eidgah Masjid and held that all these 18 suits… pic.twitter.com/3kklt5MexE
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Hindu Sena who is a party in the case welcomed the decision. “Today Allahabad High Court rejected the objections of the Muslim side in the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi case. Now the hearing of the Janmabhoomi case will continue in Allahabad High Court. This is the victory of all Sanatanis and the victory of all Shri Krishna devotees living in the world today. Hindu Sena will file a caveat in the Supreme Court,” expressed Vishnu Gupta, the outfit’s national president.
Many lawsuits have been filed demanding the “removal” of the Shahi Idgah mosque, which is next to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The petitioners contend that the mosque, which dates back to the Aurangazeb era, was constructed following the destruction of a Krishna temple. The management committee of the mosque opposed these suits in its petition. The proceedings were deemed unenforceable under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, according to the Muslim side, which included the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the mosque management committee.
The Muslim side alleged that the cases explicitly acknowledge that the mosque in question dates from 1669 to 1670.
The Muslim side’s representative, Taslima Aziz Ahmadi, had argued in court that the Waqf board’s provisions would be applicable and that the Waqf tribunal was the appropriate forum to hear the case. The Hindu plaintiff asserted that there is no land registered in the government’s record under the name Shah Idgah and this is an illegal occupancy. Additionally, they submitted that the Waqf Board had to reveal the donor of the contested property if it was alleged to be Waqf.
A recurrent petition in the Hindu side’s litigation calls for the “removal” of the Shahi Idgah mosque from the 13.37-acre property in Mathura that it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev temple along with taking possession of the Shahi Idgah grounds.
