High Court rejects Hindu side's plea to declare Shahi Idgah disputed structure
Application A-44 specifically urged the court to direct the concerned stenographer to replace the term "Shahi Idgah Mosque" with "disputed structure" throughout the ongoing case documents and future proceedings. However, the Muslim side submitted a written objection to this demand, opposing any such change in official references to the mosque.The High Court, after hearing arguments from both sides, rejected the petition and upheld the objection raised by the Muslim side.The case is among 18 petitions filed by various members of the Hindu side relating to the contentious land and religious claims surrounding the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi and the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura. The mosque stands adjacent to what many Hindus believe is the birthplace of Lord Krishna.The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 2.- EndsMust Watch
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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
HC rejects plea to call Mathura's Shahi Eidgah disputed structure
The Allahabad high court on Friday dismissed an application by Hindu petitioners asking that the Shahi Eidgah mosque in Mathura be referred to as a 'disputed structure' during the legal proceedings on the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Eidgah title dispute. The suits filed by Hindu litigants since 2022 seek the removal of the Shahi Eidgah mosque as well as restoration of the temple. (PTI) The controversy is related to the Mughal-era mosque at Mathura, which Hindu groups say was built by emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a temple at the mythical birthplace of Lord Krishna. The suits filed by Hindu litigants since 2022 seek the removal of the Shahi Eidgah mosque as well as restoration of the temple. The Muslim side has rejected the petitions and said they are barred under the 1991 Places of Worship Act, which freezes the religious character of shrines as they were at the time of independence, barring the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya. The Hindu petitioners asked the court to direct the stenographer to use word 'disputed structure' in place of order 'Shahi Idgah Mosque' during further proceedings of the suits and other connected matter. The Muslim side said it was an abuse of the process of the law. 'A bare perusal of the pleading of the parties in the suit reveals that there is dispute between the parties with regard to the site where Shahi Masjid Idgah is existing. Parties have claimed their respective title over suit property. Therefore, it may be termed as property in dispute,' said justice Ram Manohar Narain Mishra. 'In pleadings of the parties also, the structure in question is referred as Shahi Masjid Idgah and at this stage, where hearing of the suits is yet to commence and even issues have not been framed, it is neither desirable nor expedient to issue any direction to stenographer, as prayed by the applicants, to refer Shahi Masjid Idgah in judgments and orders as 'disputed structure',' the judge added. 'There is no dispute with regard to identity of property in suit, therefore, the prayer made in the application A-44 cannot be granted at this stage.' Mahendra Pratap Singh, a lawyer from Mathura who moved this application, said that legal experts will be consulted and the order will be analysed. 'We will challenge the order in the Supreme Court after consultation,' said Singh, adding that the order dismissing the application to term the Shahi Eidgah Masjid as a disputed structure will not harm the original suit. Meanwhile, secretary for Shahi Eidgah Masjid management committee and its counsel Tanveer Ahmed welcomed the order and said, 'Justice has been done.' 'Regular namaz is held at the mosque till date and has a separate access. So, there is no dispute. This cannot be called a disputed site,' said Ahmed, adding that the petitioners are wasting the court's time. The Hindu side had submitted that the Shahi Idgah mosque was constructed on the site historically recognised as the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The site holds immense religious significance for Hindus, they argued. But the Muslim side argued that the mosque was in existence for the last 400 years and its existence was sought to be undermined by the present application, which was not permissible under law. Allowing the present application will amount to pre- determination that the Shahi Masjid Idgah is not a mosque at an early stage, the Muslim side said. The religious dispute simmered in the first half of the 20th century but a 1968 agreement calmed tempers. On October 12, 1968, an agreement was signed between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Shahi Masjid Idgah Trust, which divided the land between the two parties and relinquished any claims of the Hindu parties to the land of the mosque. But the Hindu side's petition challenged the settlement and alleged that the pact had no legal validity because the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, which the petitioners claimed had the ownership and title of the land, was not party to the settlement. The Hindi suit claimed that Shahi Eidgah Masjid was constructed on a part of 13.37-acre land belonging to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. They demanded the mosque, which abuts the temple, be removed and the land returned to the trust because it is the mythical birthplace of Lord Krishna. The Allahabad high court on December 14, 2023 directed the appointment of a court commissioner to supervise the survey of the mosque premises. However, the Supreme Court on January 16, 2024 stayed implementation of the December 14, 2023 order. The case is part of a decades-old ideological project by Hindu groups that argue that medieval-era Islamic structures were built by demolishing temples and demand rights over those structures. Cases by Hindu groups and individuals in Varanasi and Mathura are currently being adjudicated in courts across Uttar Pradesh, even as a larger issue relating to the Place of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 is being heard by the Supreme Court.
India Today
3 hours ago
- India Today
Indore Congress councillor charged under NSA for paying men to lure Hindu girls
A Congress councillor from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Anwar Qadri, has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for allegedly masterminding a "love jihad" conspiracy involving financial inducement to trap Hindu case has triggered a major political storm in the state and escalated into a law-and-order issue after three men named Qadri as the person who paid them to target Hindu matter came to light two weeks ago when two men - Sahil Sheikh and Altaf Ali - were arrested by the Indore Police following complaints filed at the Banganga police station. Two Hindu women had alleged that the men concealed their religious identities to establish romantic relationships and then sexually assaulted them. During police interrogation, the two accused reportedly revealed that Congress councillor Anwar Qadri had given them cash incentives - Rs 2 lakh to Sahil and Rs 1 lakh to Altaf - to trap Hindu women, marry them, and convert them to Islam. The arrests and disclosures triggered an immediate political registered a case against Qadri under the Freedom of Religion Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. However, after evaluating his past criminal record and the seriousness of the accusations, the Indore District Collector approved the application of the National Security Act against also announced a cash reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to Qadri's arrest, as he has been absconding since the FIR was case intensified further on Wednesday when a Hindu organisation apprehended two Muslim youths from separate flats in Indore, reportedly in compromising positions with Hindu girls. One of the youths, a resident of Bhopal, named Anwar Qadri and alleged he had paid him Rs 2 lakh to lure Hindu girls. This marked the third time Qadri was named by an accused in the ongoing Collector Ashish Singh confirmed the imposition of the NSA, citing the grave threat posed to social harmony. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also addressed the matter, saying the Indore Police had been given complete freedom to arrest the absconding councillor. "No one will be spared if found guilty. Law will take its own course," Yadav said in his a sharp political response, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Pro Tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma demanded that Anwar Qadri be "encountered", alleging that the Congress was harbouring anti-national Additional SP Rajesh Dandotiya confirmed that multiple cases had been registered and investigations were progressing rapidly. He added that action was being taken based on material evidence, and any involvement of elected representatives would not be gravity of the case and repeated accusations linking an elected official to a systematic campaign involving interfaith relationships, religious conversion, and sexual exploitation have raised concerns over communal harmony and law enforcement integrity in the region.- Ends
New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Muslim votes drifted to UDF while Christian ones stayed: CPM report
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just a few months remaining for the local body elections, and later the assembly elections, the CPM appears to be breathing a little easier as far as the crucial Christian community votes are concerned. According to the CPM state leadership, much of the Christian voters who had extended support to the LDF in the 2021 assembly elections did not drift away in the 2024 parliamentary elections. The assessment came as a sigh of relief to the party leadership when it had much to worry about regarding the return of a majority of Muslim votes to the UDF kitty. The party state committee came to this conclusion after verifying both results and voting percentages in Christian-dominated segments. The review undertaken months ago, after the Lok Sabha election results were declared, stated that while Muslim votes had drifted away from the LDF, the pattern was absent in the case of Christian votes. 'There wasn't much drifting of votes from the constituencies where the Christian community is a formidable force,' the report said. The review cited Pathanamthitta as an example. Incidentally, the LDF won all the assembly constituencies. In the Lok Sabha election too, the votes were intact. However, despite the CPM taking various steps to protect the minority rights of the Muslim community, the voters who had supported the LDF in the last assembly election shifted to the UDF, the report is learnt to have said. Over the past few years, many international and national developments concerning the community have happened, Palestine and citizenship amendment, for instance. In these issues, the CPM took a stand supporting the rights of the minority.
