Krishna Janmabhoomi Dispute: Allahabad High Court Grants Survey Of The Mathura Mosque (twitter.com/AskAnshul)

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted permission for a court-monitored survey of the Mathura”s Shahi Idgah Mosque, situated adjoining the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. As per the order, the court mandates an appointment of an advocate commissioner to administer the survey of the mosque, and added that procedures of the survey will be considered at the next hearing on December 18.

The decision was in response to a petition filed by the Hindu side in a Mathura court urging full ownership of the 13.37 acres of land claiming the centuries-old mosque was built by demolishing the Katra Keshav Dev temple that stood there earlier. They alleged this was ordered by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, NDTV reports. As per the claim raised by the Hindutva outfits, the mosque stands near the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

To substantiate the claims, the Hindu side refer the presence of the carvings of the lotuses on some walls of the mosque, and also the shapes apparently resembling “sheshnag” – the snake demigod in Hindu mythology. Thus, they had claimed that the mosque was built over the temple.
Earlier, the Muslim side had attempted to dismiss the petition referring the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which sustains the religious status of any place of worship since it was on August 15, 1947.

In 1968, as a matter of act, both the temple side, i.e., Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Mosque side, i.e., the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, has signed an agreement to which 10.9 acres of land was given for the Krishna Janmabhoomi and the remaining 2.5 acres of land would be part of the mosque.

It was in May, the Allahabad High Court transferred a total of 18 pending cases regarding the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Masjid dispute to itself.

(With inputs from NDTV)