Sunni Waqf Board, Masjid authorities issued notice by Mathura Court: Green light for Krishna Janmabhoomi temple
A Mathura district court on February 6th (Saturday) accepted the plea filed by priest Pawan Kumar Shastri of the Keshav Dev temple on behalf of the temple’s deity, Thakur Keshav Dev Ji Maharaj Virajman and issued notices to- the Shahi Eidgah masjid management committee, the president of Sunni Waqf Board-Lucknow, the managing trustees of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust Katra Keshav Dev temple and Sri Krishna Seva Sansthan, Katra Keshav Dev temple.
The court noted that the suit is permissible & maintainable and hence admissible for detailed hearing. The parties have been asked to present their views on March 8, 2021 so that the hearing can commence soon.
It may be recalled that a similar plea filed earlier in September 2020 was dismissed citing the bar under the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991. The Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991 was enacted the by the Congress government under the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, which fixed the status of all the places of worship in the country as they existed on August 15, 1947.
Also, three more petitions have been filed by various other parties and are pending in the court for hearings.
Demands of the petition:
Pawan Kumar Shastri has made three demands in his plea; firstly, he has sought the right to manage the entire temple complex of 13.7 acres including the land on which Shahi Eidgah Masjid currently stands built by the tyrant medieval king Aurangzeb.
The basis of his claim to manage the entire complex is that his ancestors have been serving as priests of the deity for decades and he has inherited the right from them as the temple’s “real sevayat” (priest).
He has also demanded the annulment of a 1967 ruling of Mathura court which has ratified a land deal between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Eidgah Management Committee, allowing the existence of the mosque near the temple. The 1967 ruling of the Mathura court is a settlement between the mosque managing committee and Shree Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh regarding the management of the temple complex.
Pawan Kumar Shastri finds the ruling illegal and void as the Shree Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh had no right over the property and he is the sole sevayat of the land.
The third and the last demand is to remove the mosque from the current location and shift it elsewhere so that sentiments of both the Hindu and Muslim community is respected.
Movement to reclaim Krishna Janmabhoomi:
The Shahi Eidgah Mosque stands at the Krishna Janmabhoomi in the city of Mathura. The Islamic invader Aurangzeb had destroyed the ancient Keshav Nath temple and built the Shahi Eidgah Mosque on its plinth in 1669. Hindu groups claim the land as the holy site where Lord Krishna was born and have been for long demanding a peaceful resolution of the same under the constitution and the judicial process of the country so that the historical wrong stands corrected.
