Editor's Pick: A fresh suit in the temple-mosque dispute in Mathura

Adding to the series of cases that have sprung up questioning the character of minority places of worship, a fresh suit was admitted on Thursday by a civil judge in Mathura who had been hearing the Shahi Idgah mosque-Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi dispute case. The suit came back to the civil court on the directions of the district court earlier this month. The suit by advocate Ranjana Agnihotri sought ownership of the land on which the mosque was built, claiming that Lord Krishna was born there and that there were signs of the existence of a temple at the site before. After the District Court overturned the civil court’s dismissal of Ms. Agnihotri’s suit last week, the civil court listed the matter for a fresh hearing in July. Tanveer Ahmed, secretary of the Shahi Idgah Masjid management committee and its lawyer, informed that there were multiple other suits filed over the same dispute. He said that the mosque committee was currently defending six civil suits claiming ownership of the land on which it was built, adding that the dismissal of Ms. Agnihotri’s suit in 2020 opened a floodgate — leading to suits piling up one after the other. This comes after a civil judge in Varanasi entertained a suit seeking to give rights of daily prayer to Hindu plaintiffs around the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, and ordered a court commissioner to conduct a video survey inside the mosque. The matter reached the Supreme Court which asked a district judge to hear the matter. A district court in Delhi, meanwhile, reserved its order on a plea challenging the dismissal of a civil suit that sought to “restore” 27 Hindu and Jain temples inside the Qutub Minar complex. The report on the fresh suit being admitted by the Mathura civil judge appears on the front page of The Hindu as new suits are being permitted despite an existing law designed to preempt such attempts to change the character of places of worship in the name of correcting perceived historical wrongs. As pointed out in this editorial, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, passed at the height of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid row, had sought to freeze the status of places of worship as on August 15, 1947, so that existing suits and proceedings abate and new claims are not entertained. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials Security in friendship: On Tokyo Quad summit Reimagining Australia: On Anthony Albanese’s Labor government The Hindu’s Daily Quiz What is the name of the first woman who is joining the Army Aviation Corps as a combat aviator? Ganeve Lalji Abhilasha Barak Ruchi Sharma Swati Singh To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 27 MAY 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( A fresh suit in the temple-mosque dispute in Mathura Adding to the series of cases that have sprung up questioning the character of minority places of worship, a [fresh suit was admitted]( Thursday by a civil judge in Mathura who had been hearing the Shahi Idgah mosque-Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi dispute case. The suit came back to the civil court on the directions of the district court earlier this month. The suit by advocate Ranjana Agnihotri sought ownership of the land on which the mosque was built, claiming that Lord Krishna was born there and that there were signs of the existence of a temple at the site before. After the District Court overturned the civil court’s dismissal of Ms. Agnihotri’s suit last week, the civil court listed the matter for a fresh hearing in July. Tanveer Ahmed, secretary of the Shahi Idgah Masjid management committee and its lawyer, informed that there were multiple other suits filed over the same dispute. He said that the mosque committee was currently defending six civil suits claiming ownership of the land on which it was built, adding that the dismissal of Ms. Agnihotri’s suit in 2020 opened a floodgate — leading to suits piling up one after the other. This comes after a civil judge in Varanasi entertained a suit seeking to give rights of daily prayer to Hindu plaintiffs around the [Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanas]( and ordered a court commissioner to conduct a video survey inside the mosque. The matter reached the Supreme Court which asked a district judge to hear the matter. A district court in Delhi, meanwhile, reserved its order on a plea challenging the dismissal of a civil suit that sought to “restore” 27 Hindu and Jain temples inside the Qutub Minar complex. The report on the fresh suit being admitted by the Mathura civil judge appears on the front page of The Hindu as new suits are being permitted despite an existing law designed to preempt such attempts to change the character of places of worship in the name of correcting perceived historical wrongs. As pointed out in [this editorial]( the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, passed at the height of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid row, had sought to freeze the status of places of worship as on August 15, 1947, so that existing suits and proceedings abate and new claims are not entertained. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more.  [Click here]( The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Security in friendship: On Tokyo Quad summitÂ]( [Arrow][Reimagining Australia: On Anthony Albanese’s Labor government]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz What is the name of the first woman who is joining the Army Aviation Corps as a combat aviator? - Ganeve Lalji - Abhilasha Barak - Ruchi Sharma  - Swati Singh To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here]( Today’s Best Reads [[Geetanjali Shree wins International Booker Prize for first Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand'] Geetanjali Shree wins International Booker Prize for first Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand']( [[App-based attendance hits rural jobs scheme workers] App-based attendance hits rural jobs scheme workers]( [[Supreme Court wants full respect for sex workers: counsel] Supreme Court wants full respect for sex workers: counsel]( [[Cocaine worth over ₹500 crore seized near Mundra Port in Gujarat] Cocaine worth over ₹500 crore seized near Mundra Port in Gujarat]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](