The Allahabad high court on Thursday rejected a plea challenging the maintainability of 18 cases related to the temple-mosque dispute in Mathura, and ruled that the 'religious character' of Shahi Idgah needs to be determined.
The court dismissed the Muslim side's contention that the suits filed by Hindu litigants relating to the dispute over the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and the adjacent mosque violated the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act -- and were thus not maintainable.
The 1991 Act prohibits changing the religious character of any shrine from what existed on the day of the country's Independence. It exempted only the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute from its purview.
The cases filed by the Hindu side seek the 'removal' of the Aurangzeb-era mosque they claim was built after demolishing a temple that once stood there.
Shahi Masjid committee secretary Tanvir Ahmad said they are studying the high court order and will approach the Supreme Court against it.
In his ruling, Justice Mayank Kumar Jain said the 1991 Act did not define the term 'religious character' and the "disputed" place cannot have a dual religious character -- of a temple and a mosque, which are 'adverse to each other' -- at the same time.
"Either the place is a temple or a mosque. Thus, I find that the religious character of the disputed place as it existed on August 15, 1947 is to be determined by documentary as well as oral evidence led by both the parties," the judge said.
He concluded that the cases "do not appear to be barred by any provisions of the Wakf Act, 1995: the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991; the Specific Relief Act, 1963; the Limitation Act, 1963 and Order XIII Rule 3A of the Code of Civil Procedure Code, 1908".
Hindu side counsel Vishnu Shankar Jain told reporters that with the dismissal of the plea challenging maintainability, the high court will continue to hear all related cases on the temple-mosque issue.
Jain also said the Hindu side will now move the Supreme Court asking it to vacate its stay on an earlier Allahabad High Court order that had allowed a survey of the mosque.
The Hindu litigants claim the mosque holds signs suggesting that it was a temple once.
The mosque management committee and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had argued that the suits were barred under Places of Worship Act and other laws. On May 31, the Allahabad high court reserved its judgment on this maintainability plea after hearing both sides.
However, the court reopened the hearing at the request of Shahi Idgah counsel Mehmood Pracha. The judgment, pronounced Thursday, was finally reserved on June 6.
The high court has now fixed August 12 as the date for framing of issues.
The Mathura dispute mirrors the legal tussle in Varanasi, where the Gyanvapi mosque and the Kashi Vishwanath temple are located next to each other.
Last December, the Allahabad high court dismissed pleas challenging the maintainability of a 1991 suit seeking the 'restoration' of a temple where the Gyanvapi mosque stands.
"Either the Gyanvapi compound has a Hindu religious character or a Muslim religious character. It can't have dual character at the same time," Justice
Rohit Ranjan Agarwal had then said, while ruling that the Varanasi case was not barred under the Places of Worship Act.
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