Earnest attempt to rob Muslims, alleges Owaisi

HYDERABAD: There is an “earnest attempt to rob Muslims of their dignity,” and it is appearing that the law does not matter anymore, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said on Thursday.

Owaisi’s comment followed a district court in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh earlier in the day ruling that a suit to remove the Mathura Shahi Idgah Masjid on the grounds that it was built over the ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’ was “maintainable.” This means the lower court has to hear the petition.

The AIMIM chief has been at pains to explain where The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 stood on such issues in the light of the developments surrounding the Gyanvapi masjid in Varanasi. Owaisi, who has taken the stand that trying to right any possible historical wrong cannot be done in the present, took to Twitter following the Mathura court order.

He said “Mathura’s Sri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh and Shahi Idgah Trust had resolved their issues by an agreement in 1968. Places of Worship Act 1991 prohibits such cases from even going to court. But law doesn’t matter anymore. Robbing Muslims of their dignity is the only goal now.”

Owaisi Tweeted excerpts from an agreement between the Janmasthan Seva Sangh and the Idgah Trust on the issue on all the points of agreement the two sides came to on October 12, 1968.

The Mathura district court’s order on Thursday came in the wake of a revision plea filed by Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman and Asthan Shri Krishna Janmbhoomi, through ‘next of friends’ Ranjana Agnihotri and others, who challenged the September 30, 2020, dismissal of a plea by a civil court which said it cannot admit the case following the provisions in the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The civil court now has to hear the petition.