By Gyanvi Khanna
Today (April 19), the Supreme Court ordered that the keys to a mosque in Erandol Taluka, Jalgaon, will remain with the municipal council. While ordering thus, the bench of Bench of Justices Surya Kant and K.V Vishwanathan disposed of an appeal preferred by the Jumma Masjid Trust Committee against the Bombay High Court’s order directing it to return the keys of the Jalgaon mosque to the council by April 13.
At the same time, the Bench also made it clear that the municipal council would depute an official to open the gate well before the commencement of namaz in the morning and till all the namaz are performed. Furthermore, the Court also stated that the masjid compound should be under the control of the Wakf board or the petitioner till further orders.
This is an interim arrangement till the District Collector finally disposes of the proceedings.
To state the background of the case briefly, the Collector had passed an interim order restraining people from offering prayers at the mentioned mosque and directed the Jumma Masjid Trust Committee to hand over the keys of the mosque to the Erandol municipal council’s chief officer.
This order came against the backdrop of a complaint filed by the Hindu group Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti (PSS), claiming that the mosque in question is a temple and accused the local Muslim community of encroachment.
This story was originally published in livelaw.in. Read the full story here.