On 14th December, the Allahabad High Court granted a plea to form a commission under court to survey the disputed Shahi Eidgah mosque in Mathura, adjoining the sacred Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The exercise is going to be carried out by three appointed commissioners who are advocates. The court scheduled a hearing for 18th December to finalise the details of the commission.
The order regarding the application was reserved by Justice Mayank Kumar Jain on 16th November, following the hearing of the concerned parties. His bench pronounced the pivotal judgement. The deity (Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman) and seven other parties represented by counsel Hari Shankar Jain, Vishnu Shankar Jain, Prabhash Pandey, and Devki Nandan filed an Order 26 Rule 9 CPC motion which was accepted. The original lawsuit is still pending in the High Court.
The long-running conflict has taken a major turn with the Allahabad High Court’s decision to permit the inspection of the disputed mosque. Furthermore, the Court has ordered the District Judge in Mathura to notify the pertinent parties of the transfer of two more actions about the dispute to itself.
The District Judge was further instructed by the court to make sure that the parties to the two civil proceedings from Mathura are informed of their transfer to this court and that this information be provided separately as soon as possible. The Court further asked the District Judge of Mathura if there were any other cases of a similar sort concerning the subject matter that were submitted or pending in any other Mathura Judgeship court, other than these instances.
The aforementioned lawsuit was the result of an order the Allahabad High Court delivered in May 2023, that moved all cases which were pending before the Mathura Court, and requested a variety of solutions related to the dispute over disputed Shahi Eidgah mosque.
Notably, in the application filed in the original lawsuit, it was argued that a commission appointment was necessary because several signs prove the mosque is a Hindu temple and that Lord Sri Krishna’s birthplace is underneath it. It also mentioned the presence of a lotus-shaped pillar, which is a traditional feature of Hindu temples, and an image of Sheshnaag, one of the Hindu deities who guarded Lord Krishna. The plea further pointed out that Hindu religious symbols and engravings could be witnessed at the foot of the mosque’s pillar.
The action reportedly requested an injunction that Lord Shree Krishna Virajman is the rightful owner of the disputed land which includes the disputed Shahi Eidgah mosque’s location. It also asked for the defendants which is the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, to be ordered to take down the mosque.
The applicant sought to be nominated to the commission and given explicit instructions to complete the survey and submit the results within a predetermined window of time. A different approach was sought when it came to taking pictures and filming the entire event. The plaintiffs’ attorney contended that to properly resolve the disagreement, the factual components of the contested structure must be presented to the court. This is because the case cannot be effectively resolved without knowledge of the disputed regions’ factual positions.
