The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a plea by the Shahi Idgah Masjid challenging the maintainability of 18 suits filed by the Krishna Janmabhoomi deity in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura and other Hindu petitioners. A bench of Justice Mayank Kumar Jain admitted all 18 suits.
This has been seen as a landmark verdict with possible implications for other pending suits.
Today's order by comes after the High Court, in an unexpected development last month, re-opened hearing on this case after the counsel for the Shahi Eidgah mosque moved an application requesting he be heard in the matter and prayed for video recordings. The court had also heard Hindu plaintiffs.
However, after arguments concluded and the court reserved its order the application was filed on behalf of the management committee of the mosque, with the prayers to "issue appropriate directions to ensure that the right of an audience through video conferencing..."
The court noted the counsel had been present through video conferencing on several occasions and in person before the court. He had ample opportunity to argue the matter, it said.
However, keeping in view the principle of transparency, the court accepted the request.
The Shahi Idgah Intezamia Committee had challenged maintainability of the petitions, including one filed by Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman at the Katra Keshav Dev temple, which claims the mosque is built on 13.37 acres of land that belongs to the temple and sought its removal.
The Hindu side claims the land is the birthplace of the Lord Krishna.
The petitioners claim as evidence some lotus carvings on the mosque, as well as shapes supposedly resembling the 'sheshnag' or the snake demigod in Hindu mythology. These are proof that the mosque was built over a temple, they argue.
The Muslim side had earlier sought to dismiss these petitions by citing the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place as it was on August 15, 1947.
In 1968, an agreement was signed between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, under which 10.9 acres of land was given for the Krishna Janmabhoomi and the remaining 2.5 acres of land to the mosque.
In December last year the Supreme Court declined to stay a High Court order approving a "scientific survey" of the disputed land. However, in January the top court paused the order.
READ | No Survey At Shahi Idgah Mosque For Now, Top Court Pauses Order
This was after the High Court appointed a commissioner to carry out the survey. The top court, though, said the purpose of appointing the commissioner was "vague".
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