Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura.
Credit: PTI File Photo
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected a PIL seeking the removal of the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura and the recognition of the site as Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi.
A double bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and justice Ashutosh Srivastava passed the order on the PIL filed by one Mahak Maheshwari in 2020.
The court had in September this year reserved its verdict on the PIL.
The petitioner had contended that the Shahi Idgah Mosque had been built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a part of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi.
The PIL had also claimed that the mosque stood on the ground where there once existed a jail where Lord Krishna's parents had been imprisoned by the then ruler of Mathura, Kansa.
It had also contended that the Shahi Idgah Mosque could not be called a proper mosque as per Islam as no mosque could be built on land forcibly occupied by someone.
Earlier, the HC had directed transfer of all the cases pertaining to the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque dispute to the high court.
In its order, the court had said that the cases were concerned with the faith and beliefs of both Hindus and Muslims and that there could be delays in their disposal if they continued to be heard in the lower court and directed the district judge Mathura to send all the files pertaining to the cases to it and appointed an additional advocate general to plead them before the court. All these cases would be heard together by the high court.
A total of seven cases pertaining to the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura had been pending in different courts in Mathura.
The Hindu petitioners claimed ownership over the entire 13.37 acres of land on which they were situated. They have also challenged the 1968 agreement between the Shahi Idgah Mosque Committee and the Shrikrishna Janmabhoomi Trust allowing the Mosque to continue to exist and use the land on which it was situated. The petitioners have also sought a videography survey of the disputed site on the lines of the videography survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque, which was adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.