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Video Editor: Prajjwal Kumar
On 19 May 2022, a Mathura court allowed re-opening of a lawsuit filed against a piece of land on which stands the Shahi Idgah, adjacent to the Katra Keshav Dev Temple, a Hindu Temple.
The two structures are engaged in a legal and political battle as the 13.77-acre plot is under contention for housing the Shahi Idgah right above the purported ‘Janmasthan,’ the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
While ‘removal of the Mosque’ is a common thread across dozens of the cases filed in the Mathura court, other pleas include demand for a video survey of the area, the right to offer prayers, and excavation at the site.
Apart from looking at the revenue records, the court will also rule on the validity of a 1968 ‘Compromise Promise’. The 1968 agreement says that the temple trust reportedly received the ownership of the land, while management rights of the Masjid were left to the Idgah committee.
The agreement also mentions that the trust did not have any legal right to stake claim on the Shahi Idgah. However, petitioners are now challenging the legality of the 1968 agreement.
The Shahi Idgah was reportedly built on the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1670 after he reportedly decided to demolish Vir Singh's Kesavadeva temple. Vir Singh was reportedly a Rajput ruler of Orccha and a Mughal ally.
The area in question, the land, was a non-agricultural state land. From the Mughals to the Marathas, to the British the 13.77-acres of plot passed through many hands until 1944 when Jugal Kishore Birla bought the land for Rs 13,400 and set up The Shri Krishna Janam Bhoomi trust which acquired ownership rights for the temple.
As Hindutva groups take the matter to the court, challenging the ownership of the land, residents complain of a growing divide among the people living in the vicinity of the area.
Noor Jahan, a homemaker, says that some people are just as they were before, but some have changed including her friends. “Some of them ignore us now. We used to celebrate festivals together,” she adds.
Sofia Malik, another homemaker, joins her, saying, “Kids are discussing if there will be a fight among communities here. Even schoolteachers are seen discriminating between Hindus and Muslims. If teachers differentiate between their students like that, why won’t the students follow suit?”
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