Krishna Janambhoomi case: Petitioners to move district court after plea dismissal

After Mathura civil court dismissed the suit seeking removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid on claims that it was built on Krishna Janmabhoomi, the petitioners have decided to approach district court. The counsel said that petitioners will move to the upper court as several pertinent issues have not been considered by the court

Mathura: A group of petitioners, whose plea to remove a mosque on the 13.37-acre premises of Katra Keshav Dev temple of Lord Krishna was recently dismissed by a court, would challenge the decision in the district court, their counsel said. The petitioners include Lucknow-resident Ranjana Agnihotri and five others.

The now-dismissed suit was filed in the court of civil judge, senior division, demanding the annulment of an earlier Mathura court ruling ratifying a land deal reached between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Shahi Idgah Management Committee.

Chhaya Sharma, civil judge in-charge, senior division, Mathura had dismissed the plea on September 30.

“We would appeal this in the court of district judge soon,” Hari Shankar Jain, the counsel for the plaintiffs said Saturday.

“Since the judgment is against several facts and law, a redressal would be sought from the court of district Judge Mathura,” he said.

In their original plea, the plaintiffs had sought that the order directing the mosque management to "remove the construction raised by them encroaching upon the land within the area of the Katra Ksehav Dev temple".

The court in the order, which was uploaded on its website on Saturday, has said that only Nyasis (members of the trust) or priests of the temple have the right to challenge any action of trustees in the court.

READ: Mathura Court dismisses plea seeking removal of mosque near Lord Krishna's birthplace

Since plaintiffs have filed the case as devotees of Lord Krishna, they are not entitled to file such cases. There are unlimited devotees of Lord Krishna all over the world, the court said.

Legal and social system would be jeopardised if every devotee, this way, is allowed to file the case, the judgment passed by the court said.

Since the plaintiffs do not have the right to sue, there is no base to register the case and hence it deserved dismissal, the order stated.

"During the British era, Raja Patni Mal brought this piece of land in 1815. In the year 1940, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya visited Mathura and was pained to see the condition of Mathura and recommended that a grand temple must be constructed here. Malviya also wrote a letter to the city's billionaire Jugal Kishore Birla and in 1951 the foundation stone of Krishna JanamBhoomi Trust was laid," the then-dismissed plea stated.

The petition was filed in 1973 to dismiss the land's decree which was acquired through the negotiation of Katra Keshav Temple.

With PTI inputs