Krishna Janambhoomi Case: ASI Examination Of Agra Jama Masjid Sought For Idols From Mathura Temple

An application has been filed before a court in Mathura(UP) seeking a ground radiology test by the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) at the Jahanara mosque at Agra(popularly known as Jama Masjid Agra) to ascertain if the idols of Lord Krishna are buried beneath it.

The application is filed based on an assertion that Mughal emperor Aurangazeb, after razing down the Mathura Janmasthan temple, had taken the Lord Krishan idols from Mathura to Agra to bury them under the Jahanara mosque.

The application is moved in a civil suit filed this year on behalf of the deity Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajmaan seeking to deliver the possession of the place in which Shahi Idgah at Mathura is located to the Sri Krishna Janambhoomi trust.

The applicant says that as the entire issue in the suit revolves around the alleged encroachment of Aurangazeb into the Sri Krishna Janambhoomi, for a proper adjudication, it is necessary to examine the Jahanara mosque for the idols.

According to the applicants, several historians say that the Eidgah is existing in the place of the prison cell where Lord Krishna was born.

The application makes a reference to the order passed by a Varanasi court last week allowing the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque to ascertain if it was built over the demolished Kashi temple.

The Court of Civil Judge Senior Division, Mathura, had issued notice in the present suit on February 19. The application seeking ASI survey, filed today(April 14), is expected to be considered on May 10.

UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, which is managing the Shahi Eidgah, is the first defendant in the case.

Last year, the Mathura Civil Court had dismissed a similar suit filed on behalf of the deity was not filed through the shebait and was filed through a devotee.

"If each and every devotee is allowed to institute such suits, it would Jeopardize the Judicial and Social System", the Court observed in the order passed in September last year.

Appeal is pending in the District Court against the dismissal of that suit.