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Recovery of Krishna idols:Agra court to hear plea on maintainability of case on Jan 8
The case was fixed for Tuesday and counsel for Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board sought copies of the petition and asked for time to file objections. The court has fixed January 8, 2024 as next date to hear application moved under Order VII Rule 11 of Civil Procedure Code filed by opposite parties challenging maintainability of case
Agra ::The Agra court will hear on January 8 , parties to the suit on the issue of maintainability and jurisdiction of court hearing the matter related to recovery of idols allegedly brought from the demolished site of Krishna Temple in Mathura and buried under the stairs of the mosque in Agra Fort.
“The case was fixed for Tuesday and counsel for Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board sought copies of the petition and asked for time to file objections. The court has fixed January 8, 2024 as next date to hear application moved under Order VII Rule 11 of Civil Procedure Code filed by opposite parties challenging maintainability of case,” said Vinod Shukla, counsel for the petitioner.
“I appeared in court on behalf of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board made party to the case. The petitioner has been directed by the court to provide us the copies of petition and relevant documents for reply to be filed on subsequent dates,” said Rashid Salim Shamshi, the counsel for UP Sunni Central Waqf Board.
“The court is to hear the application already on record under Order VII Rule 11 of Civil Procedure Code filed by Intezamia Committee of Mosque. We too on behalf of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board will file application under same provision of law but before the next date fixed in compliance with order passed by the court today,” said Shamshi.
The Intezamia (management) Committee of Shahi Masjid, Agra Fort has already appeared in case and challenged the maintainability of the suit filed by a Hindu activist seeking recovery of Sri Krishna idols allegedly buried under the stairs of the mosque in the fort. The activist had alleged that the idols were buried there after being brought from Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura allegedly destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century.
In its application moved in the Small Causes Court here in Agra, under Order 7 Rule 3 and Rule 11(d) read with Section 151 Civil Procedure Code, the Intezamia Committee of Shahi Masjid objected to the suit filed on ‘false, wrong, baseless and imaginary allegations’. Calling it a politically motivated petition aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims, the committee has sought rejection of the plaint filed by a trust constituted by Hindu preacher (katha vachak) Devki Nandan Thakur.
The Intezamia committee had said in its application that there was confusion about location of the mosque of Begum Sahib as mentioned the in suit and it was not clear in the plaint if it was in Agra Fort or Shahi Idgah Masjid. The committee, defendant number 1, has also invoked provisions of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 and claimed that the suit was barred by the Act.
“The suit has been filed after 350 years without basis and is barred by Section 85 of Waqf Act which prohibits legal proceeding related to Waqf property in civil courts,” said the committee’s application, which urged the court to reject the plaint at this very stage.
Earlier, the petitioner had moved an application seeking direction to the ASI to investigate/undertake survey regarding the idols of Keshav Dev buried under the stairs of the mosque.
