The Supreme Court has rejected a plea that sought the recognition of Mathura's Shahi Idgah mosque site as the Krishna Janmabhoomi. The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta declined to interfere with the Allahabad High Court's previous dismissal of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Mehek Maheshwari.
The bench's order indicated their lack of inclination to overturn the High Court's judgment, leading to the dismissal of the special leave petition. However, the court clarified that dismissing the plea would not prejudice any party's right to challenge the constitutional validity of any law.
In the plea filed before the Allahabad High Court, Maheshwari sought to declare Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 as unconstitutional. The petitioner argued that the bar set by the 1991 Act should not be applicable in the Janmabhoomi case, asserting that the land in question had always been considered temple land, with no grounds for changing its nature.
Maheshwari contended that historical records supported the assertion that the disputed site, the Shahi Idgah mosque, was the actual birthplace of Lord Krishna. The plea referenced the history of Mathura dating back to the Ramayana era, suggesting that Islam arrived in the region only 1,500 years ago.
The high court, however, dismissed the PIL without delving into the merits of the case in October the previous year. The division bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava noted that the issues raised in the petition were already under consideration in ongoing suits, leading to the dismissal of the petition.
(With Agency Inputs)
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