LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking recognition of the Shahi Idgah mosque as Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.
Passing the order, the division bench head by Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and also comprising Justice Ashutosh Srivastava, had reserved the verdict over the issue last month.
The PIL, moved by advocate Mehak Maheshwari in 2020, had also sought the handover of the mosque to Hindus.
The petitioner had contended that various historical texts recorded the site in question as Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi. She had also contended that while the history of Mathura dated back to the Ramayan era, Islam had emerged just 1500 years ago.
She had also submitted that the Shahi Idgah mosque could not be deemed as a genuine mosque because the Islamic jurisprudence claimed that a mosque could never be built on a land forcibly acquired while according to the Hindu jurisprudence, a temple was a temple even if it was in ruins.
The PIL, therefore, pleaded that the temple's land should be handed over to Hindus and a proper trust of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi be formed for building a temple on the site.
The petitioner had also made an additional prayer for a court-monitored GPRS-based excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of the disputed structure allegedly built over Shri Krishna Janmasthan.
Significantly, in May, this year, the Allahabad High Court had got all the suits related to Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi pending in Mathura court transferred to itself on an application filed by Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman and seven others.
Meanwhile, last month, the Supreme Court of India had refused to entertain a plea by Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Nirman Trust seeking a scientific survey of mosque premises leaving it to be decided by Allahabad High Court.