On Friday, a civil suit was filed with the court of the Civil Judge, Mathura Senior Division on behalf of the child deity, Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman, seeking the removal of Shahi Idgah Masjid which is located adjacent to the Sri Krishna temple complex in Mathura, and claims ownership of the entire 13.37-acre piece of land believed to have been Lord Krishna’s birthplace.
The lawsuit comes 10 months after a case brought on behalf of the child deity Ram Lalla was successful in the Supreme Court regarding the disputed site in Ayodhya, and the high court ruled in Ram Lalla’s favor on November 9. of 2019.
The lawsuit has been filed through the next friend (a legal term for a person representing someone directly unable to uphold a claim) of the deity, Ranjana Agnihotri, a defender and resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Six other devotees are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“A lawsuit filed with the Mathura civil court on behalf of Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman seeks a declaration that the entire 13.37 acres of land be conferred on the deity and also for the cancellation of the collusive compromise decree,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Vishnu Shankar Jain.
The Jain reference is to an agreement between Shri Krishna Janamsthan Seva Sansthan, who is the governing body of the temple complex, and the Shahi Idgah Trust Management Committee in 1968 on the basis of which the dispute over the land.
UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, Idgah Trust, Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and another Shree Krishna Janambhoomi Trust have been indicted in the lawsuit claiming that Idgah Trust invaded land belonging to Shri Krishna Janamasthan Trust and the deity and erected a super structure on the site.
Lord Krishna’s birthplace is under the structure erected by the trust, he added.
According to the lawsuit, the recent history of the temple complex dates back to 1618, when Raja Veer Singh Deva Bundela of Orchha built a temple dedicated to Lord Shri Krishna at the latter’s birthplace spending the equivalent of ₹ 33 lakh. This temple was partially demolished in 1669 by order of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb and the Idgah Mosque was built. After the Marathas came to power in 1770, the temple was restored, he said.
Later, the area fell to the East India Company in 1803, who auctioned it in 1815. It was bought by Raja Patni Mal from Banaras.
In 1944, Rai Kishan Das and Rai Anand Das, the heirs of Raja Patni Mal, executed a deed of sale for consideration for ₹ 13,400 (paid for by Jugal Kishore Birla) and the property of 13.37 acres was transferred in favor of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya. Goswami Ganesh Dutt and Bhikhen Lalji Aattrey.
“The Sri Krishna Janambhoomi Trust name is entered as the owner and the right to offer ‘namaz’ on Eid has been granted on the Eidgah site that we own. Muslims must voluntarily renounce their claim for an amicable solution, ”said Gopeshwar Chaturvedi, a member of the Shri Krishna Janambhoomi Trust.
Tanveer Ahmed, secretary of Shahi Masjid Idgah in Mathura, said there is no dispute. “Mathura is a land of peace, politicians are not in favor of peace and are raising the problem.”
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