Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 14: After the Gyanvapi mosque next to the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday allowed a court-monitored survey of the 17th century Shahi Idgah premises adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.
The court agreed to the appointment of an advocate commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque, which the petitioners claim holds signs suggesting that it was a Hindu temple once. The identity of the commissioner, as well as the modalities of the survey, will be decided at the next hearing on Monday, the court said.
Hindu outfits have claimed the mosque was built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna and had demanded a survey. The demand was admitted by a local court in December last year but the Muslim side had filed an objection in the High Court. The Muslims side is now expected to approach the Supreme Court against this ruling.
The Hindu side had filed a petition in a Mathura court demanding full ownership of the contested 13.37 acres of land, claiming the centuries-old mosque was built by demolishing the Katra Keshav Dev temple that stood there earlier. They alleged this was ordered by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
The Hindu side claims, as evidence, the existence of carvings of lotuses on some walls of the mosque, as well shapes supposedly resembling of ‘sheshnag’ – the snake demigod in Hindu mythology. This, they had argued, shows the mosque was built over the temple.
The Muslim side had earlier sought to dismiss the petition by citing the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
The order on the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah issue is the second temple-mosque dispute in which the High Court has given its nod to a survey over the past months. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) recently completed the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque but has sought more time from a local court to submit its report.
According to advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, the application submitted to the High Court said a lotus-shaped pillar characteristic of Hindu temples exists on the mosque premises, and an image of Hindu deity ‘Sheshnag‘ is also present there. It was also submitted that Hindu religious symbols and engravings are visible at the base of the pillar.
In 1968, an agreement was signed between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, under which 10.9 acres of land was given for the Krishna Janmabhoomi and the remaining 2.5 acres of land to the mosque. But now the Hindu side has staked the claim for the entire land citing the existence of the Hindu temple before the mosque was built.
There are a total of 18 cases in the High Court concerning the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Masjid dispute, after the court transferred to itself all pending suits before the local court in Mathura.
The AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi earlier had expressed strong disagreement over the Mathura court’s survey order in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah case and said it was a violation of “Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991” which prohibits conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947. Owaisi had termed the court order “wrong” and said they have used the survey as a first resort, which legal experts believe should be the last resort.
“In my opinion, the order is wrong. The civil court has violated the 1991 Act. They have used the survey as a first resort, which legal experts believe should be the last resort. I disagree with the order,” Owaisi had said in December, last year.
In May, the High Court had transferred to itself all cases related to the Mathura dispute. Supreme Court on July 21 directed the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court to furnish details of suits related to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute.
A Bench of Justices S. K. Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia had commented “Looking at the nature of the matter, is it not better that the high court tries the matter? Thinking aloud, if it is tried at a higher level… pendency of matter causes its own disquiet, one side or the other”, Justice Kaul observed.
Justice Kaul orally had observed that multiplicity of proceedings and prolongation are not in the interest of anybody. He had said it would be better if the issue was settled at the high court level. The Bench then said in its order, “We consider it appropriate to ask Registrar of HC to forward to us what are the suits which are sought to be consolidated by the impugned order. “There appears to be little generality in the direction issued. List after three weeks,” the Bench said.
In the suit before the Mathura court, Bal Krishna through Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta and others had filed a suit in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division (III) for shifting of Shahi Masjid Idgah which they claim has been constructed on a part of 13.37 acre land of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.
The high court on May 26 had directed that all matters related to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute pending before a Mathura court be transferred to it. Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra had passed the order allowing a transfer application filed by Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman at Katra Keshav Dev Khewat Mathura (deity) through the next friend, Ranjana Agnihotri, and seven others.
The petitioners had requested that the original trial must be conducted by the high court itself like the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi temple matter.
