Shahi Idgah mosque case: The Mathura district court on Saturday ordered the survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque which will be conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from January 2.

The mosque is said to be built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna and the court's latest ruling comes on a lawsuit filed by Vishnu Gupta of the Hindu Sena. The report regarding this is likely to be submitted on January 20.

According to reports, Hindu organisations have filed numerous lawsuits seeking the removal of the 17th-century Shahi Idgah Masjid from the Katra Keshav Dev temple on the grounds that the mosque was constructed on the site of Lord Krishna's birth.

Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, is said to have ordered the construction of the Shahi Idgah mosque on Krishna Janmabhoomi in 1669–1670. 

The court earlier dismissed the case

The Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947, was the reason the civil court in Mathura earlier dismissed the case, stating that it cannot be admitted under that law.

The Ayodhya temple-mosque case involving the 16th-century Babri mosque, which was destroyed in 1992 by Hindu activists who thought it was constructed on the remains of an old temple, was the lone exception to the law.

In 2019, the Supreme Court ordered alternate land for a mosque and gave the mosque site to Hindus for a grand Ram temple. 

What do petitioners have to say? 

The petitioners argued in their suit that as devotees of Lord Krishna, they have a right to approach the court. They say they have the right to worship at the actual birthplace of Krishna.

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha had earlier this month given a call for reciting Hanuman Chalisa inside the Shahi Masjid Idgah to mark the anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition. One of the outfit's leaders was arrested and seven or eight were detained.

On February 19, 2021, a civil suit titled “Bhagwan Sri Krishna Virajman and Others Vs UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and Others” was filed before the court of the civil judge (senior division), Mathura, for removal of encroachment and structure illegally raised by the 'committee of management' of the Trust Masjid Idgah with the consent of the Sunni Central Board of Waqf.

IANS