Krishna Janmabhoomi case: Mathura court allows lawsuit seeking to remove mosque

The Krishna Janmabhoomi complex spans 13.37 acres

In a significant development amid the ongoing legal battle over Gyanvapi Mosque, which was adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, a Mathura court on Thursday admitted a petition claiming ownership of the entire land on which the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi was situated and seeking removal of the adjoining Shahi Idgah Mosque.

The district judge Rajiv Bharti said that the petition was admitted and that the matter would be heard by the lower court.

The petition, filed by Ranjana Agnihotri, has also sought scrapping of the agreement between the Srikrishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh and Shahi Idgah Masjid in 1968 and handing over the entire land to the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi Trust. The agreement allowed the Mosque to continue to exist and use the land on which it was situated.

Agnihotri had moved the court of the district judge after her application was rejected by a lower court in Mathura. The court of the civil judge in Mathura had earlier rejected the petition stating that it was not maintainable.

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The petitioner had contended that the Sansthan did not have any authority to enter into agreement with the Mosque managing committee and hence, the agreement should be cancelled.

The Allahabad high court had recently directed a Mathura court to dispose of the petitions claiming ownership of the entire land on which the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi was situated and seeking removal of the adjoining Shahi Idgah Mosque within four months.

A single bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai had also directed the district court to hear all the petitions together and ensure presence of all the parties in the matter and pass an ex-parte order if the Sunni Central Waqf Board, the opposite party in the dispute, did not attend the hearing.

The order of the court came on a petition filed by the leader of a saffron outfit seeking daily hearing of the matter and early disposal of the petitions.

A total of nine petitions were pending in the Mathura district courts with regard to the ownership claims of the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Complex. All the petitions were filed by the Hindu parties.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which had spearheaded the Ram Temple movement, had made it clear that the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi issue would be taken up in 2024, the year the next general elections were scheduled to be held in the country.

The All India Akhara Parishad (AIAP), an apex body of the seers in the country, had extended its support to the petition.