HC rejects Muslim side's petition on Mathura temple-mosque dispute

Shahi Masjid committee secretary Tanvir Ahmad said they are studying the high court order and will approach the Supreme Court against it.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected a plea challenging the maintainability of 18 cases related to the temple-mosque dispute in Mathura, and ruled that the “religious character” of Shahi Idgah needs to be determined.

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

The 1991 Act prohibits changing the religious character of any shrine from what existed on the day of the country's Independence. It exempted only the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute from its purview.

The cases filed by the Hindu side seek the “removal” of the Aurangzeb-era mosque they claim was built after demolishing a temple that once stood there.

Shahi Masjid committee secretary Tanvir Ahmad said they are studying the high court order and will approach the Supreme Court against it.

In his ruling, Justice Mayank Kumar Jain said the 1991 Act did not define the term “religious character” and the "disputed" place cannot have have a dual religious character -- of a temple and a mosque, which are “adverse to each other” -- at the same time.

“Either the place is a temple or a mosque. Thus, I find that the religious character of the disputed place as it existed on August 15, 1947 is to be determined by documentary as well as oral evidence led by both the parties,” the judge said.

He concluded that the cases "do not appear to be barred by any provisions of the Wakf Act, 1995: the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991; the Specific Relief Act, 1963; the Limitation Act, 1963 and Order XIII Rule 3A of the Code of Civil Procedure Code, 1908".