Post Gyanvapi survey, pleas flood Mathura courts
AGRA : With the legal proceedings in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque Complex case hitting the headlines this month, a plethora of applications has been filed in the Mathura courts hearing the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi case.
Most of these applications have been filed in pending cases wherein hearing has been fixed in July.
These applications are being filed in about a dozen cases related to Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi. The first case was filed on september25, 2020 but dismissed on September 30, 2020. It was restored recently on May 19 this year.
The applications contain various pleas, including appointment of advocate commissioner to prepare survey report, photography and videography within Shahi Eidgah Mosque, sealing of mosque premises, enhancement of security, purification of mosque premises (claimed as original birth place of Lord Krishna) by Gangajal, injunction seeking restraint on movement within mosque complex and offering water to Laddoo Gopal in Shahi Eidgah mosque premises etc.
Most of these petitioners claim that the actual birthplace of Lord Krishna (Garbh Grah) is within the walls of the presentday structure of Shahi Eidgah Mosque and there are marks and symbols, proving that it was a Hindu temple in the past.
According to the petitioners, there are material evidences which Muslim parties might damage, remove or conceal, hence the applications. However, most of the petitioners have failed to impress the court and all these applications are to be taken up in July with maximum listed for July 1, when the court opens after a month-long summer vacation.
Tanveer Ahmad, secretary and counsel of the management committee of Shahi Eidgah Mosque himself has lost the count of the applications moved in May in about a dozen cases pending before the Mathura courts. “No day passes when an application is not moved in the court of civil judge (senior division) Mathura or any other court by Hindu petitioners on grounds often repetitive in nature. July 1 or other dates in the same month have been fixed in almost all cases,” he said.
“These applications are filed on days when date is not fixed in the case and copies are not being provided to us as required. We come to know the next date fixed in the case from newspapers. No orders are being passed because these applications are baseless and moved with no purpose. They merely add to the confusion,” said Ahmad.
“It may be because of publicity, as these applications are first provided to the media,”” said the rather baffled secretary and lawyer for management committee, Shahi Eidgah Mosque.
The man currently under the spotlight is Mahendra Pratap Singh, petitioner and counsel in case no. 950 of 2020, one of the earliest cases filed in December 2020. Singh had begun filing applications on various grounds, seeking advocate commissioner survey, videography and photography, sealing of Shahi Eidgah Mosque and other prayers since February 22 this year but none was disposed of and hearing for all was fixed for July 1.
Mahendra Pratap Singh, the best connected petitioner with the media, admitted that about 8 to 10 of his applications were pending in case no. 950 of 2020.
On February 22, through an application, Mahendra Pratap Singh sought disposal of applications, including one seeking appointment of a four-member expert commission to visit the Shahi Eidgah (mosque) and apprise the court about the details.
“We have sought disposal of these applications because those managing the Shahi Eidgah Mosque have become alert after ‘Shivlinga’ being found in Gyanvapi. In Shahi Eidgah Mosque also, lotus, ‘Swastick’ and Om symbols exist and authorities and staff of the mosque can remove them, changing the character of the property,” he said.
Interestingly, Rajendra Maheshwari, Sushant Gaur and Jai Bhagwan Goyal are also petitioners in this case besides Mahendra Pratap Singh but denied media exposure as the case was ‘hijacked’ by the latter.