New Delhi. The Atala Masjid dispute located in Jaunpur, UP has now reached the Allahabad High Court. The petition filed by the Mosque Committee will be heard in Allahabad High Court on December 9. The High Court has asked Swaraj Vahini Association to file a reply. Actually, a petition was filed in Jaunpur District Court on behalf of Swaraj Vahini Association. In this petition it was claimed that Atala Masjid was earlier Atala Temple which was demolished and converted into a mosque. State President of Swaraj Vahini Association, Santosh Kumar Mishra said in the petition that the Atala Devi temple was built by Raja Vijay Chandra in the 13th century.
On the petition of Santosh Kumar Mishra, the civil court judge had ordered a hearing on May 29. After this, a petition was filed in the Allahabad High Court on behalf of the Mosque Committee against the decision of the Civil Court. The Muslim side has said in its petition that the case filed by Swaraj Vahini Association is not maintainable and hence it should be dismissed. On this petition of the Muslim side, Allahabad High Court has sought reply from Swaraj Vahini Association and has fixed December 9 for the hearing of the case.
The Muslim side says that this Atala Mosque was built in 1398 and since then daily prayers including Friday prayers are offered here continuously. This property is registered as a mosque only, it was never occupied by any other religion nor do people of any other religion have any right on it. Let us tell you that due to the mosque dispute, security arrangements were tightened in Jaunpur for the Friday prayers to avoid any untoward incident.