Pleas over character of places of worship dot UP’s legal landscape
The 1991 Places of Worship locks the religious character of holy sites as they stood on August 15, 1947, with an exception for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which the top court ruled on in November 2019.
A special bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna will on December 12 hear a raft of pleas challenging the Places of Worship Act, 1991. This comes at a critical juncture, with Hindu groups filing a bouquet of legal suits across the country to survey mosques, arguing that they were built over temples. The 1991 Act locks the religious character of holy sites as they stood on August 15, 1947, with an exception for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which the top court ruled on in November 2019. However, the Act notwithstanding, petitions seeking the redetermination of the character of places of worship have sprung up across the country, with a bulk of them in Uttar Pradesh. Here’s a look at the cases in Uttar Pradesh and where they stand.

BADAUN, JAMA MASJID
The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha in an application in September 2022 claimed that the Jama Masjid in Badaun is a Neelkanth Mahadev temple that was destroyed and converted into a mosque. The plea also made the state government and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) parties in the case, which is being heard by a special local fast-track court. The case will next be heard on December 10.
The Hindu side claims that the mosque was built by Sufi saint Badshah Sahamshuddin Altamash — 13th century pre-Mughal Muslim ruler of north India after destroying the temple.
SAMBHAL, SHAHI JAMA MASJID
Supreme Court advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain on November 19 filed a petition in a local court in Sambhal, seeking a survey of the town’s Shahi Jama Masjid. Jain, who is also representing one of the petitioners in the hearings against the Places of Worship Act in the Supreme Court, claimed that the Shahi Jama Masjid was built over a Hari Har Mandir that Mughal emperor Babur allegedly demolished in 1529. The court on November 19, 2024 ordered the appointment of an advocate commissioner to survey the mosque, an exercise that was carried out that evening. A second round of the survey on November 24 triggered violence and resulted in four deaths. The Supreme Court on November 29 asked the trial court to defer hearing the case till the Allahabad high court lists the appeal by the mosque management committee against the survey
VARANASI, GYANVAPI MASJID
The tussle over the Gyanvapi Masjid dates back several decades, with Hindu groups arguing that the mosque was constructed over the remains of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, which they claim Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed in the 17th century. A case was filed in a Varanasi court in 1991 demanding the removal of Muslims from the complex and the restoration of the temple. A Varanasi district court in July 2023 ordered an extensive survey of the mosque by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain its antecedents and concluded that a large Hindu temple existed before the construction of the Masjid. On January 31, 2024, a Varanasi district judge allowed Hindus to offer prayers at the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid. Gyanvapi Masjid Committee has approached Supreme Court seeking to implement the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
LUCKNOW, TEELE WALI MASJID
In 2013, lawyer Hari Shankar Jain filed a petition demanding a survey of the Teele Wali Masjid in Old Lucknow, accusing the shrine’s administration of destroying evidence which would prove that the mosque was built over a Hindu religious site. They claimed that Teele Wali Masjid was previously Laxman Teela. Lawyer Shishir Chaturvedi, the spokesperson for Hindu Mahasabha, filed the application seeking a survey of the mosque.
The case is pending in the court of Civil Judge (Junior division). The court has fixed March 15 as next date of hearing.
AGRA, TAJ MAHAL
A group of lawyers in 2015 filed a case in a local Agra court seeking the Taj Mahal be declared a Shiva Temple. It asked the court to allow Hindu devotees to perform rituals within the complex and sought that locked rooms within the property be unlocked. The ASI, in its reply filed in this case in August 2017, had denied that Taj Mahal was a temple and stated that it, is in fact, a tomb.
Advocate Rajesh Kulshrestha informed that petitioners had sought survey of Taj Mahal but application was rejected by Agra court against which revision is pending before the Court of Additional District Judge in Agra and matter is listed for hearing on December 19, 2024.
AGRA, SHAHI MASJID
A local court in Agra will on December 23 hear an application seeking a survey of the Shahi Masjid at the Agra Fort, on an application moved by a Hindu activist. The Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Sanrakshit Sewa Trust claimed that Krishna idols brought from the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi site in Mathura – which he alleged that Aurangzeb destroyed in the 17th century – and buried under the stairs of the mosque.
MATHURA, SHAHI EIDGAH
Multiple suits regarding the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Eidgah land dispute pending before various courts in Mathura have a common demand – to reclaim for the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust the 13.37-acre plot on which the Shahi Eidgah stands.
The mosque abuts the Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple. A bunch of Hindu petitioners in 2020 sought to annul a compromise entered between the mosque committee and Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh in 1968 allowing the mosque to continue at the place where it currently stands. They have also sought removal of the adjoining “unauthorised construction”, a reference to the Shahi Eidgah.
The Allahabad high court on May 26, 2023 transferred to itself 16 cases in the matter pending across courts in Mathura. The high court on December 14, 2023, ordered a court-monitored survey of the Eidgah complex. It also agreed to appoint an advocate-commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque. However, the Supreme Court on January 16 stayed the high court’s order, noting that the Hindu side’s plea for the survey was “very vague”.
JAUNPUR, ATALA MOSQUE
The Swaraj Vahini Association (SVA) and Santosh Kumar Mishra, a local resident, in May 2024 filed a petition in a local court in Jaunpur seeking that the 14th-century Atala Mosque be declared a “Atala Devi Mandir”, arguing that “followers of the Sanatan religion” have the right to worship there. The Jaunpur court allowed the registration of the suit in May 2024. A district judge upheld the order in August. Both orders were challenged in the petition before the Allahabad high court, which on November 8 directed SVA and Mishra to file their reply within three weeks.
