Mathura court adjourns hearing on plea for shifting Shai Idgah mosque

Mathura: A Mathura court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a plea for shifting the 17th century Shahi Masjid away from the birthplace of Lord Krishna in the Katra Keshav Dev temple.

Senior Civil Judge Neha Banaudia adjourned the hearing on the plea by advocate Mahendra Pratap Singh and four others to March 9, District Government Counsel (Civil) Sanjai Gaur said.

The court adjourned the case after partially hearing the petitioners’ counsel arguments for the appointment of a court commissioner to examine the mosque premises for the signs of Hindu symbols in its structure, said Gaur.

Advocate Singh, the president of Sri Krishna Janmabhumi Mukti Andolan Samiti, had on December 23 moved the court also for the annulment of a 1967 ruling by Mathura court which had ratified a land deal between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Idgah Management Committee, allowing the existence of the mosque near the temple.

Singh had on February 8 also requested the court to appoint a commissioner for examining the inscriptions of Hindu temple allegedly present in the mosque.

The court adjourned the hearing on Singh’s plea after supplying a copy of his application to the counsel for Shahi Masjid Idgah management committee, Niraj Sharma, who had objected to Singh’s argument, saying that he was not served the copy.

The court also asked Singh to provide a copy of his application for the appointment of the court commissioner to the counsel for Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha, Sanjay Sharma, who had moved the court to be allowed to become a party to advocate Singh’s petition.