Post SC order, how mandir-masjid cases stand in U.P. courts

pawan.dixit@htlive.com

After the Supreme Court on Thursday restrained courts across the country from admitting fresh suits or passing orders in pending ones seeking a survey of mosques to determine whether a temples lie beneath them, ongoing proceedings in seven such cases in different courts across the state come to a halt.

The top court’s order halts proceedings in the Allahabad high court and trial courts related to mandir -masjid disputes in Badaun, Sambhal, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Mathura, Agra and Lucknow.

BADAUN, JAMA MASJID

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, in an application in September 2022, claimed that the Jama Masjid in Badaun is a Neelkanth Mahadev temple that was destroyed and converted into a mosque. The plea also made the state government and the ASI parties in the case, which was being heard by a special local fast-track court. The Hindu side claims the mosque was built by Badshah Sahamshuddin Altamash — 13th century pre-Mughal Muslim ruler — after destroying the temple.

Status: The case was listed for the next hearing on December 17.

SAMBHAL, SHAHI JAMA MASJID

Supreme Court advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain on November 19 filed a petition in a local court in Sambhal, seeking a survey of the town’s Shahi Jama Masjid. Jain, who is also representing one of the petitioners in the hearings against the Places of Worship Act, claimed the Shahi Jama Masjid was built over a Hari Har Mandir that Mughal emperor Babur allegedly demolished in 1529. The court on November 19 ordered the appointment of an advocate commissioner to survey the mosque. A second round of the survey on November 24 triggered violence and resulted in four deaths.

Status: The Supreme Court on November 29 asked the trial court to defer hearing the case till the Allahabad high court lists the appeal by the mosque management committee against the survey.

VARANASI, GYANVAPI MASJID

The tussle over the Gyanvapi Masjid dates back several decades, with Hindu groups arguing that the mosque was constructed over the remains of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, which they claim Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed in the 17th century. A case was filed in a Varanasi court in 1991, demanding the removal of Muslims from the complex and the restoration of the temple.

Status: The Gyanvapi Masjid Committee has approached the Supreme Court seeking to implement the Places of Worship Act, 1991.

LUCKNOW, TEELE WALI MASJID

In 2013, lawyer Hari Shankar Jain filed a petition demanding a survey of the Teele Wali Masjid in Old Lucknow, accusing the shrine’s administration of destroying evidence which would prove that the mosque was built over a Hindu religious site. They claimed that Teele Wali Masjid was previously Laxman Teela.

Status: The case is pending in the court of Civil Judge (Junior division). The court has fixed March 15, 2025, for the next hearing.

AGRA, TAJ MAHAL

A group of lawyers in 2015 filed a case in a local Agra court seeking the Taj Mahal be declared a Shiva Temple. It asked the court to allow Hindu devotees to perform rituals within the complex and sought that locked rooms within the property be unlocked.

Status: A plea seeking a survey of the monument was rejected by the Agra court and a revision petition was scheduled to come up for hearing before the court of the additional district judge on December 19.

AGRA, SHAHI MASJID

The Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Sanrakshit Sewa Trust claimed that Krishna idols brought from the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi site in Mathura – which it alleged that Aurangzeb destroyed in the 17th century – and were buried under the stairs of the mosque.

Status: A local court in Agra was scheduled to the application seeking a survey of the Shahi Masjid at the Agra Fort on December 23.

MATHURA, SHAHI EIDGAH

Multiple suits regarding the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Eidgah land dispute pending before various courts in Mathura have a common demand – to reclaim for the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust the 13.37-acre plot on which the Shahi Eidgah stands.

Status: The Allahabad high court on December 14, 2023, ordered a court-monitored survey of the Eidgah complex. The Supreme Court on January 16, 2024 stayed the HC order, noting that the Hindu side’s plea for the survey was “very vague”

JAUNPUR, ATALA MOSQUE

The court of civil judge (junior division) in Jaunpur on December 10 accepted an application of the Swaraj Vahini Association, seeking police security for the court commissioner for carrying out a survey of the 14th century Atala Masjid.

A suit was filed before the Jaunpur court on May 17, 2024 by the Swaraj Vahini Association and Santosh Kumar Mishra, a local resident, seeking a declaration that the disputed property was ‘Atala Devi Mandir’ and followers of the Sanatan religion have the right of worship therein.

They had also prayed for the possession of the disputed property and sought a mandatory injunction to restrain non-Hindus from entering the property in question.

Status: The court fixed December 16 for the next hearing on a plea to provide police security to the court commissioner for carrying out a survey of the Atala Masjid.