Decision against Places of Worship Act: Jamiat chief Madani on Allahabad HC allowing Mathura mosque survey

New Delhi: A day after the Allahabad High Court allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani on Friday claimed this goes against the 1991 law regarding the protection of places of worship and asserted that the Muslim organisation will pursue the matter in court.

The high court also agreed to the appointment of an advocate commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque premises, which the petitioners claim holds signs suggesting that it was a Hindu temple once.

Asked about the issue while interacting with journalists in Nuh, Madani claimed the decision is against the law brought in 1991 regarding the protection of places of worship.

For the protection and effective implementation of this law, Jamiat is already fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court, he pointed out.

This decision is totally against the agreement between Hindus and Muslims in 1968, according to which local Hindus and Muslims had divided 13.37 acres of land between the idgah and the temple, Madani was quoted as saying in Nuh in a statement issued by the Jamiat.

This agreement was signed between Shri Krishna Janam Asthan, Sivasanthan and Shahi Eidgah Masjid Trust, he said.

Madani asserted that the Jamiat will fight this issue strongly in the court.

In Nuh, the Jamiat also handed over land papers and an initial relief cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Mewat riot victims whose houses were bulldozed by the administration on the grounds that these were on forest department land, the statement said.

Jamiat chose 20 people among the riot victims who had no land and no house to live in, and even after their houses were bulldozed, were living in the same place in plastic tents, it said.

For them, the Jamiat bought 22 acres of land and got it registered and fulfilled its promise to give a family a house of about 100 yards, a water tank and a mosque, the statement said.

On this occasion, Madani said what happened in Nuh was planned, otherwise neither weapons would have been waved nor provocative slogans would have been raised in a religious yatra.

'But unfortunately, it was not investigated, nor those who did it were arrested, but a large number of people who were innocent were arrested,' he claimed.