A writ petition has been filed by Advocate Mahek Maheshwari in the Allahabad High Court to remove Shahi Idgah Mosque allegedly built on ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’.

The plea seeks that the temple land should be handed over to the Hindus and a proper trust for Krishna Janmabhoomi Janmasthan be formed, for building a temple on the said land.

Further, till the disposal of the petition, the plea also seeks permission for Hindus to worship at the Masjid on certain days in a week and on Janmashtami days.

The petition further adds, “The committee of Management of Trust Masjid Idgah entered into illegal compromise on October 12, 1968 with the Society Shree Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh and both have played fraud upon the Court, the plaintiff Deities and devotees with a view to capture and grab the property in question. In fact, Shree Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust is non-functional since 1958.”

“Even on the Government’s official website of Mathura District it is stated that Shahi Idgah mosque was built after demolition of Krishna Janmabhoomi by Aurangzeb”, Advocate Mahek submitted.

The plea alleges that Lord Krishna was born in a karagar or dungeon of King Kans and the place of his birth lies beneath the present structure raised by the Shahi Idgah Trust. She further contends in her plea that, “Masjid is not an essential part of lslam and hence, the disputed land should be handed over to the Hindus for exercise of their right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.”

Places of Worship Act, 1991

The objective of this Act was to freeze the status of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947 in order to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of such a place of worship as on that day. Through this legislation, preservation of communal harmony was envisaged.

The present plea challenges sections 2,3, 4 of the Act and urges the court to strike them down as unconstitutional as it prohibits conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

The petitioner has argued that the provisions are violative of Articles 14, 25 and 26 of Constitution of India as these provisions are arbitrary, denies justice. These provisions invariably and indiscriminately ban all kinds of conversions whether by agreement or by legal settlement or a judicial decision and therefore “the impugned provision interferes with the fundamental right of the persons enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”, mentions the plea.  

It is also submitted by her that these provisions violate the doctrine of Hindu law that Temple property is never lost even if enjoyed by strangers for years and even the king cannot take away property as deity is the embodiment of God and is juristic person, represents ‘Infinite- the timeless’ and cannot be confined by the boundaries of time.

Background

A civil suit was first filed in the Mathura Court in September 2020 for removal of encroachment and superstructure illegally raised by Committee of Management of alleged Trust Masjid Idgah with the consent of Sunni Central Board of Waqf on land Khewat No.255 (Two Hundred Fifty-Five) at Katra Keshav Dev city Mathura belonging to deity Shree Krishna Virajman.

SabrangIndia had reported further that this petition before the Mathura Court had submitted that the Plaintiffs have a right under Article 26 of the Constitution of India to regain, hold and manage the property belonging to, owned and possessed by deity Lord Shree Krishna Virajmaan, measuring 13.37 acres situated within the area of Temple Complex in Katra Keshav Dev, City and District Mathura.

But on September 30, a Civil Judge of Mathura Court had dismissed the plea to remove Shahi Idgah Mosque from its present site. Subsequently on October 16 Mathura District Judge Sadhna Rani Thakur admitted a plea against this trial court order dated September 30 that dismissed the suit for removal of Masjid Idgah.

Justice Sadhna Rani Thakur had issued notices to Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board, Trust Masjid Idgah, Srikrishna Janamsthan Trust and Sri Krishna Janam Bhoomi Seva Sangh. This matter is now slated to be heard on November 19.

Related:

And so it begins: Civil suit filed to remove Idgah next to Krishna temple in Mathura
Krishna Janmabhoomi: Mathura court dismisses plea against Shahi Idgah
Hindu Army members arrested for launching ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’ movement

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Image Courtesy: livemint.com

The States of Gujarat and Maharashtra, in addition to the State of Madhya Pradesh, and the inter-State body of Narmada Control Authority, were impleaded through an interim order passed by Justice Ramana and Justice Ajay Rastogi on the September 18, 2019.
 
The affidavits in reply filed by the Union of India and the Narmada Control Authority have rejected, among others, the plea for reducing the water level in the Sardar Sarovar to 122m by keeping the gates open. The affidavits have also claimed that the Narmada Control Authority and its various subgroups, for Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) as well as environment, have already granted all the requisite permissions for filling of the reservoir to FRL in 2017 itself.
 
The State of Gujarat has also contended that the Supreme Court’s order of February, 8, 2017, had directed all the PAFs to vacate the villages by  July 31, 2017 and that this should have been complied with. 
 
The Petitioners, on the other hand, submitted that thousands of families, as indicated in the letter by the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh dated May 27, 2019, have been residing in 76 villages, and their R&R remains pending.  The said letter stated that about 3000 applications by the claimants are pending, for the land entitlement or 60 lakh rupees package, granted by the Supreme Court itself in its 2017 order. It was also accepted that a number of tasks related to R&R remain pending and the civic amenities as per NWDTA & State policy, such as drinking water, roads, drainage and others, were not in place. 
 
Today, a Bench comprising of Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari heard the Senior Counsel for the Petitioners, Sanjay Parikhji, who pointed out the gravity of submergence affecting human life and livelihood and requested that on account of the fact that R&R has not been completed, the rise in water levels was not in accordance with law and therefore, it should be brought down so that human sufferings are lessened.
 
Senior counsel for the M.P. government, Kapil Sibal sought time to file an affidavit pointing out the status of R&R. He also asserted that the impact of submergence is much more severe than what has been presented. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, submitted on behalf of the Union and NCA that water level in reservoir has been raised as per the procedure in the award. 
 
The Court, after hearing all the parties, directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to file an affidavit by September 30 and fixed the matter for hearing on 1st October. The Court also drew attention of the Solicitor General to the provision in NWDTA regarding a Review Committee meeting suggested in the interim order and observed that a decision should be taken in the meanwhile. It may be pointed out that the Review Committee comprises of the Chief Ministers of the 4 States- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan as members, chaired by the Minister for Water Resources of the Union of India. 
 
The present crisis and controversy has arisen because the State of Gujarat wanted to increase the water level to 138.68 m in spite of State of Madhya Pradesh resisting it on the ground that the pending rehabilitation, submergence cannot be done and the R&R of thousands of families still pending. Because of the rise in water level in Sardar Sarovar, 176 villages have been submerged severely impacting their life and livelihood- islands/tapoos have been created, roads have been submerged and communication is severely affected.  
 
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1.      Four CMs must Meet, resolve contentious rehabilitation issue, on Narmada: SC
2.       Narmada valley: SC notice to Gujarat, MP, M’rashtra on submergence sans rehabilitation
 
 

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