MATHURA: A group of lawyers and law students has filed a plea in a court here demanding that Muslims be restrained from offering prayers at the Shahi Idgah mosque, which they said has been built at the place believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
Ten separate petitions have earlier been filed in Mathura courts by different Hindu groups seeking the removal of the mosque, which they claimed was built at the birthplace of the deity, within the 13.37-acre premises of the Katra Keshav Dev temple.
The fresh plea said a majority of the Hindu community believes that Lord Krishna was born at the place where the mosque stands.
Advocate Shailendra Singh, one of the petitioners, also claimed that the mosque was built at the place where once a temple stood.
"Since the structure has been constructed on the remains of a Hindu temple, it is akin to a temple and does not qualify the merit of a mosque," he said.
They have approached the court with a plea seeking "permanent injunction" on the use of the structure by the Muslim community, he said.
The advocate said the mosque does not fulfil the pre-condition laid out in the Quran, which says a mosque should be built on an undisputed land having no mark of any other religion.
District Government Counsel (Civil) Sanjai Gaur said the next hearing on the plea will take place on May 25.