The Allahabad High Court, after hearing the arguments in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah case, rejected the plea of the Hindu side to declare the Shahi Idgah in Mathura a disputed structure.
Earlier on May 23 last, after the completion of the hearing , the court had reserved its judgement.
The single bench of the court comprising Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra rejected the petition filed on behalf of the plaintiff, Mahendra Pratap Singh, president of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Trust, who had demanded that the court should declare the idgah as a disputed structure as was done in the case of Babri Masjid.
He also claimed that the Shahi mosque of Mathura was also built after demolishing the original sanctum sanctorum of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi.
The petition filed on March 5 had said that the mosque should be declared a disputed structure since it does not have land papers as it was built on an encroached land.
The Hindu side claimed that the royal idgah was a temple first. The Muslim side could not produce any evidence of its existence till date. What is being called a mosque bears symbols of Hindu deities on its walls.
The petitioners contended that by encroaching someone else’s land, one can’t claim it to be his. What’s more, the name of the mosque is not in the Khatauni connected to the land. There is no record in the municipal corporation nor tax is being paid. Even the reported power theft case had been registered against the Shahi Idgah management committee. Why then should it be called a mosque?
They compared the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya with the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura. The petitioners’ lawyers pointed out that the court had declared the Babri Masjid a disputed structure before giving its decision in the Ayodhya case. Hence, the mosque in Mathura should also be declared a disputed structure.
The Muslim side had objected to the demand, pointing out that the Shahi Idgah has been there for the past 400 years.