Mathura Court Admits Petition Seeking Removal of Mosque from Krishna 'Janmabhoomi'

A Mathura court on Friday admitted a plea seeking to remove a 17th-century mosque situated adjacent to Krishna Janmabhoomi in the Uttar Pradesh city.

The court of district judge Sadhna Rani Thakur has accepted the appeal and will next hear the matter on November 18.

A civil court last month had dismissed a suit filed to remove the Idgah Mosque alleging it was built over Krishna Janmabhoomi. Mathura is considered the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

A group of people had moved the Mathura court over the 17th century Shahi Idgah mosque they claim was built at the birthplace of Krishna, within the 13 acre premises of the Katra Keshav Dev temple. The earlier petition, filed in the court of Senior Civil Judge Chhaya Sharma, had also demanded the annulment of a 1968 Mathura court ruling ratifying a land deal reached between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Idgah Management Committee.

When the senior division civil judge dismissed their plea on September 30, they appealed in the district court on October 12 terming the order “erroneous and against facts”. After summoning the record of the lower court, the district court admitted the appeal on Friday.

“Admit appeal. Issue notice to opposite parties to appear in the court on November 18,” District and Sessions Judge Sadhana Thakur said.

“Ultimately the district judge has accepted our point. We have been fighting for justice for the last one month,” said counsel for the petitioners Vishnu Shankar Jain. “We were confident about the admissibility of the appeal.”

The suit was filed last month on behalf of child deity Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman through the “next friend” Ranjana Agnihotri and seven others. Next friend is a legal term for a person who represents someone directly unable to maintain a suit. The defendants in the case were the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, the Shri Krishna Janambhoomi Trust and Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan, Jain said.

The plea stated that if the property of the deity has been misused, the worshipper has got every right to sue offenders. It was also submitted to the court that the five-judge bench in the Ayodhya case has ruled that a worshipper has a right to protect the property of the deity, Jain said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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