Explainer: What’s Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute?
The Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah, Mathura, dispute is one of the oldest temple-mosque disputes in India where Hindus are seeking to reclaim many of their places of worship allegedly converted into mosques by Muslim invaders.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is scheduled to take up the matter on Thursday.
The dispute
Believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna, Mathura had a temple built in 1618 which, according to the Hindu side, was demolished by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb to construct the mosque in 1670.
The Hindu side claims that the mosque contains Hindu religious symbols and engravings, including a lotus-shaped pillar, and that characteristics of Hindu temples exist on the mosque premises. An image of Hindu deity ‘Sheshnag’ is also present there, they contend.
However, the Shahi Idgah Mosque Committee and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board argue that the mosque doesn’t stand on the disputed land.
The Hindu side has filed a suit in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division (III), Mathura, seeking shifting of the Shahi Idgah mosque, alleging it was built on a part of the 13.37-acre land of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.
They demanded that the high court must conduct an original trial as was done in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute case. On December 14, 2023, the Allahabad High Court ordered a court-monitored survey of the mosque.
What’s the issue before SC?
The Supreme Court is dealing with a petition filed by the Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah in Mathura challenging the December 14, 2023, Allahabad High Court order allowing a court-monitored survey of the mosque.
The Allahabad High Court had ordered appointment of a court commissioner to oversee the survey of mosque premises which, the Hindu side claimed, had signs suggesting it was a temple in the past.
Noting that the Hindu side’s application for appointment of a court commissioner for a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura was “vague”, the Supreme Court had on January 16, 2024, stayed the Allahabad High Court’s order allowing the survey.
The Bench had, however, clarified that the proceedings before the high court, including with regard to maintainability of the suit under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) will go on.
Another petition filed by the mosque committee challenging the May 26, 2023, order of the high court transferring to itself all matters related to the dispute pending before a Mathura court was also pending before the top court.
The Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah has contended that the high court could not have passed such an order for a survey when an application seeking rejection of the suit for being barred by the Places of Worship Act 1991 was pending.
The 1991 Act puts a bar on change of character of religious places as on August 15, 1947.
The Hindu side has urged the Supreme court to allow the high court to work out the modalities of the commission survey.
