Allahabad High Court recently ruled that a survey will be conducted for the Shahi Idgah, a three-domed mosque in Mathura.It is seeking appointment of a court commission to inspect the Shahi Idgah mosque that stands adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.
History of the Disputed Land
- Raja Veer Singh Bundela of Orchha had also built a temple on the same premises in 1618 and the mosque was built by Aurangzeb in 1670 on the site of an earlier temple.
- The Krishna Janmasthan temple in Mathura is believed to have been built around 2,000 years ago, in the 1st century CE.
- A survey has been ordered due to demands by Hindu representatives for complete ownership of the premises where the Keshava Deva temple was destroyed on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1670.
- The area was regarded as nazul land — non-agricultural state land owned by the Marathas, and then the British.
- The temple was originally built in 1618 during the reign of Jahangir and was patronized by Aurangzeb’s brother and rival, Dara Shukoh.
- In 1815, the Raja of Benaras purchased the 13.77-acre land from the East India Company.
- Later, the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust was established.
- The trust acquired ownership rights over the temple, and in 1951.
- The 13.77-acre land was placed under the trust with the condition that it would never be sold or pledged.
- In 1956, the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Sewa Sangh was set up to manage the affairs of the temple.
- In 1968, an agreement was signed between the Sri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh and the Shahi Idgah Masjid Trust, where the temple authority conceded a portion of the land to the Idgah as part of the settlement.
- The current dispute involves temple petitioners seeking possession of the entire parcel of land.
Present Status of the Issue
- The plea for a survey was filed on behalf of the Hindu deity, Shri Krishna and seven others, who in their original suit pending before court claimed that the mosque was built over the birthplace of Shri Krishna on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1670.
- Since the Babri Masjid judgment in 2019, nine cases related to the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Idgah Masjid, have been filed in the Mathura court.
- The Allahabad High Court transferred to itself all the suits pending before the Mathura Court on various reliefs pertaining to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque dispute.
- In the High Court, the U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Shahi Idgah Masjid Committee argued that the birthplace of Lord Krishna is not under the Mosque.
- They stated that the plaintiffs’ claim lacks evidence and is based on speculation.
- When the Committee of Management Trust of the Shahi Idgah Masjid sought a stay on the survey from the Supreme Court, the court did not grant any relief.