Members of hardline Hindu groups filed petitions in a court in northern India to stop Muslims from en-tering a historic mosque until the court decides on an earlier plea seeking approval to look for any Hindu relics which may be on the site, lawyers said on Wednesday.
Judges of a local court in Mathura, a Hindu reli-gious town in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state, allowed the new petitions but have yet to start hearings in the 2020 case aimed at securing permission to film and survey inside the 17th century Shahi Eidgah mosque.
“We suspect that Hindu symbols could be re-moved inside Shahi Eidgah mosque so we want the court to suspend entry of Muslims,” said Mahendra Pratap, a lawyer involved in the case.
This month, another local court in the state al-lowed a team to inspect and film inside one of the most prominent mosques in Varanasi, an ancient town, also the political constituency of Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi.
On Tuesday, the country’s top court overturned a ruling imposed by a Varanasi court to limit large Muslim prayer gatherings in the Gyanvapsi mosque but allowed the local court to continue proceedings.
Members of hardline Hindu groups tied to Modi’s party believe that Islamic invaders destroyed Hindu temples during their 200-year rule.
“We believe that idols of Hindu gods were lying inside the mosque built after a temple was destroyed by Muslim rulers to prove supremacy,” said Ranjana Agnihotri, a lawyer appearing on behalf of Hindu groups questioning the legitimacy of the Shahi Eidgah mosque in Mathura.
Surveyors involved in the Varanasi case said they found a large relic of the Hindu god Shiva inside the Gyanvapsi mosque, but Muslim groups said that a fountainhead was being misrepresented to stir reli-gious tension.
Reports of idols found inside the mosque have further emboldened Hindu groups in western and southern states to demand searches in other mosques.
Police in Aurangabad city said they had intensi-fied security around the grave of Mughal ruler Au-rangzeb after members of MNS, a regional political party, threatened to destroy the tomb, which they believe was anti-Hindu.—Reuters
