Shahi Idgah mosque complex case: Supreme Court extends stay on court-monitored survey in UP’s Mathura

Shahi Idgah mosque complex case: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 22) extended its stay on the Allahabad High Court’s order that permitted a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura. The complex is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, a site of significant religious importance for Hindus.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan said it will defer the hearing on the plea of the ‘Committee of Management of Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah’ against the court-monitored survey of the mosque complex in the week commencing April 1.

Jain referred to the subsequent order of the high court by which it rejected a plea of the Muslim parties challenging the maintainability of 18 cases related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura, and ruled that the religious character of the mosque needs to be determined.

The high court had dismissed the Muslim side’s contention that the suits filed by the Hindu litigants relating to the dispute over the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and the adjacent mosque violated the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 and therefore were not maintainable.

In Mathura, a suit was filed in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division (III) for shifting the Shahi Idgah mosque, claiming that it was constructed on a part of the 13.37 acre land of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.

The Hindu side had requested the high court to conduct the original trial as it had done in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute. While allowing the plea for a court-monitored survey, the high court had said that no harm should be caused to the structure during the exercise which it indicated could be overseen by a three-member commission of advocates.