Budaun mosque row: UP court to decide on hearing on Dec 24

A court in Budaun will on December 24 decide whether a hearing will be held in the Jama Masjid Shamsi versus Neelkanth temple case.

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The dispute started in 2022 when Mukesh Patel, the then convener of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, claimed that the Neelkanth Mahadev temple existed at the Jama Masjid Shamsi mosque site.

He sought permission to worship in the structure.

Advocate Anwar Alam, representing the Muslim side, on Tuesday said he presented a copy of the Supreme Court order in the court along with the application.

He recalled that the Supreme Court ordered on December 12 that in such cases, the lower court should neither pass any order nor take a decision on the survey.

Alam said if the lower court cannot pass any order, then there is no justification for hearing such cases.

"Such hearings will only waste the court's and our time," he added.

While presenting his arguments in the court, the Hindu side's lawyer, Vivek Render, said the Supreme Court has never said anywhere that the ongoing hearing should be stopped.

He said the apex court has clearly ordered that the cases in which the hearing is going on cannot be stopped, but the lower court cannot issue any kind of order or interim order.

Render also said the Muslim side's lawyers are deliberately presenting such arguments to delay the case so that maximum time can be wasted.

After hearing the arguments of both the parties, civil judge (senior division) Amit Kumar fixed December 24 in this case to decide whether the ongoing proceedings in this case should continue or not.

Earlier on December 12, the Supreme Court restrained all the courts in the country from entertaining and passing any effective interim or final orders on any lawsuits seeking relief including survey of religious places under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The direction of a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan came on a batch of pleas and cross pleas relating to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The Jama Masjid Shamsi is built on an elevated area called Sotha Mohalla and is considered the highest structure in the town of Budaun.

It is also believed to be the third oldest existing and seventh largest mosque in the country with a capacity to accommodate 23,500 people.