Edited by Deepali Verma
The Supreme Court pressed pause on an Allahabad High Court order for appointing a commissioner for the survey of the 17th century Shahi Idgah Mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura. The high court following the same protocol as the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, gave its nod last month to the survey by a court-appointed and monitored advocate commissioner.
The claims of the Hindu outfits are such that the mosque was built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna and were seeking a survey for the same. The admission of the demand was made by a local court in December last year but the Muslim side had filed an objection in the high court.
There was a petition filed by the Hindu side in a Mathura court demanding complete ownership of the contested 13.37 acres of land and claimed that the centuries-old mosque was built upon the demolition of the Katra Keshav Dev temple that stood there earlier. They alleged this was ordered by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
As a source of evidence, the petitioners claim the existence of carvings of lotuses on some walls of the mosque, as well shapes supposedly resembling ‘sheshnag’ – the snake demigod in Hindu mythology. This shows their argument for building the mosque over the temple.
The Muslim side had earlier sought to dismiss the petition by quoting the Places of Worship Act of 1991, that establishes the religious status of any place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
