All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaddudin Owaisi on Thursday slammed the Mathura court after it allowed a petition demanding the removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid from the complex it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev Temple. The Hyderabad MP said the plea was a violation of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 and that the Mathura court ruling was a violation of the Supreme Court verdict and against the Parliament Act.
"A plea is filed in Mathura court to remove Shahi Idgah Masjid. This is a violation of Places of Worship Act, 1991 itself. Mathura Dist Court saying the suit is maintainable is a violation of SC verdict, & against the Parliament Act," Owaisi said.
"For these people law doesn't matter. They want to rob Muslim people of their dignity. You're making a mockery of legal system. When another plaintiff went to court, the court had said no, so you create a different party. These are all connected to Sangh parivar," he added.
Owaisi further said it is high time that Prime Minister Narendra Modi puts an end to all this and says that his government stands with the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
"Whether it is Gyanvapi or Mathura, the idea is to create an atmosphere of mistrust, more hatred towards Muslim community, lack of security among our Hindu brothers and to take this country back in time," he said.
"It's high time that the PM puts an end to all this and says that his govt stands with the 1991 Act and will not support such causes that create more division in the country," he added.
What is the plea?
The Mathura district court today said a plea seeking to remove the Shahi Idgah Masjid from the complex it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev Temple in Mathura is admissible.
The lower court which had earlier dismissed the plea is now bound to hear it.
The plea was originally filed in the lower court -- the court of civil judge senior division -- on September 25, 2020, by Lucknow-resident Ranjana Agnihotri and six others as the "next friend of Bhagwan Sri Krishna Virajman".
They had claimed in the plea that Shahi Idgah Masjid is constructed on a part of 13.37-acre land belonging to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. They had demanded the mosque be removed and the land returned to the Trust.
However, the civil judge senior division had rejected the suit on September 30, 2020, as non-admissible.
The petitioners then moved the court of district judge, seeking a revision of the order.
After hearing the arguments, District and Sessions Judge Rajeev Bharti allowed the revision today, meaning the original suit will have to be heard by the lower court now, an official of the court said.
"The court has allowed revision of the lower court order and had directed the lower court to register the suit as a regular suit," District Government Counsel (Civil) Sanjai Gaur said.
Advocate Hari Shankar Jain, who is representing the petitioners of the suit, said, "The court has said they (the petitioners) have the right to sue." After the revision was filed in the district court, the arguments between the both sides -- Ranjana Agnihotri and her co-petitioners vs the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Secretary of Shahi Idgah Masjid and two others -- on the admissibility of the suit were concluded on May 5, the DGC said.
The court had reserved May 19 for the pronouncement of the judgment on the admissibility of the first suit.
(With PTI inputs)
