Places of worship order evokes mixed response from petitioners

LUCKNOW/MEERUT/JAIPUR: Muslim clerics and groups on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's directive restraining courts from entertaining fresh suits or passing orders to survey mosques or dargahs to determine whether temple structures lie beneath them, even as Hindu petitioners termed it a "small impediment" in their struggle to reclaim their religious sites.

- HT Correspondents

LUCKNOW: After the Supreme Court on Thursday restrained courts across the country from admitting fresh suits or passing orders in pending ones seeking a survey of mosques to determine whether temples lie beneath them, ongoing proceedings in seven such cases in different courts across the state came to a halt.

The top court's order halts proceedings in the Allahabad high court and trial courts related to mandir-masjid disputes in Badaun, Sambhal, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Mathura, Agra and Lucknow.

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 ASI parties in the case, which was being heard by a special local fast-track court. The Hindu side claims the mosque was built by Badshah Shamshuddin Altamash - 13th century pre-Mughal Muslim ruler - after destroying the temple.

Status: The case was listed for the next hearing on December 17.

SAMBHAL, SHAHI JAMA MASJID SC 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, claimed the Shahi Jama Masjid was built over a Hari Har Mandir that Mughal emperor Babur allegedly demolished in 1529. The court on November 19 ordered the appointment of an advocate commissioner to survey the mosque. A second round of the survey on November 24 triggered violence and resulted in four deaths.

Status: 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.