New Delhi, Jan 3 – A special leave petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against a decision of the Allahabad High Court which had dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking recognition of Mathura’s Shahi Idgah Mosque site as Krishna Janmabhoomi.
In October last year, a division bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava of the high court had dismissed the PIL at the threshold, without entering into the merits of the case.
The high court said: “Since the issues involved in the present writ (PIL) is already engaging attention of the court in appropriate proceedings (i.e., pending suits), we are not inclined to entertain the instant writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.”
The petitioner – advocate Mehek Maheshwari – had contended that various historical records cite the fact that the disputed site, the Shahi Idgah mosque, is the actual birthplace of Lord Krishna and even the history of Mathura dates back to the Ramayan era while Islam came just 1,500 years ago.
Regarding the bar placed by the Places of Worship Act, 1991, Maheshwari argued that since the land had always been temple land, no question of changing its nature arose.
He prayed that Sections 2, 3, 4 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 be declared as unconstitutional, saying that these provisions violate the doctrine of Hindu law that temple property is never lost even if enjoyed by strangers for years.
Maheshwari stated that the masjid is not an essential part of Islam, therefore the Shahi Idgah Mosque situated in Mathura should be razed and that land, allegedly the Krishna Janmabhoomi, should be handed over to the Hindus.
Further, he prayed for the formation of a proper trust for Krishna Janmabhoomi to build a temple on the disputed land.
In the Supreme Court, the matter is likely to be taken up on January 5 by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta.
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