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Supreme Court halts demolition drive near Krishna Janmasthan temple in Mathura
The Supreme Court has halted a demolition drive by Indian Railways near Mathura's Krishna Janmabhoomi for 10 days.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted a demolition drive undertaken by Indian Railways near Mathura’s Krishna Janmabhoomi for a period of 10 days after the aggrieved residents complained that a civil suit filed by them is pending consideration before a Mathura court and could not be heard due to a strike called by lawyers.
Read here: Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi: Nai Basti residents welcome SC order to maintain status quo
Senior advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen who appeared for the residents informed the court that the demolition began on August 9 and only 70-80 houses out of the nearly 200 in the settlement now remain. He added that prior to demolition, the residents filed a suit in May this year to restrain Indian Railways from claiming the land where they have been residing since 1880.
Most residents in the settlement, called Nai Basti, are Muslims. Railways has said the area is being cleared to convert the 21-km stretch from Mathura to Vrindavan from narrow to broad gauge to facilitate the operation of trains such as the Vande Bharat Express.
The demolition is not linked to another legal battle, where Hindu litigants are laying claim to 13.37 acres of land around the Shahi Idgah mosque as the birthplace of Hindu deity Krishna. While the temple is traditionally known as Krishna Janmasthan Mandir, petitioners have referred to it as the Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple in litigation.
Protecting the residents till next week, a bench headed by justice Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the Centre and Railways and said, “Let there be status quo as regards the subject premises for a period of 10 days.”
Read here: SC stays demolition drive near Krishna Janmbhoomi in Mathura for 10 days
The residents in their petition filed through advocate Kaushik Chaudhary said, “The action of the respondent (Railways) in demolishing the house is absolutely illegal, arbitrary and in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.” The petition pointed out that with the suit pending, the residents approached the Mathura court and the Allahabad high court but the matter could not be taken up due to a strike call given by the state bar council on August 12 following the shooting of a lawyer.
“All the courts are closed and the petitioner could not pursue the issue. And taking advantage of the situation, the railway authority has initiated the process of demolishing the house of the petitioners in the most arbitrary manner,” the petition said.
The Court indicated to Sen that ultimately, the matter has to be decided by the civil court and posted the matter for next week.
The petitioner Yakub Shah espoused the cause of the residents of Nai Basti situated at Krishna Janmasthan situated adjacent to the railway line on the Mathura-Vrindavan road. He stated that their houses are the subject matter of the civil suit and if the demolition process is not stayed, the residents shall suffer “irreparable loss and injury”.
“We welcome the court’s ruling delivered on Wednesday and plan to present our perspective before the apex court during the upcoming week’s hearing. While the railways has already carried out demolitions on properties that had received notices, we now hope that the apex court would deliver justice,” said Shah, who is also a resident said.
Read here: Court to hear Mathura demolition case on August 14
To be sure, Mathura authorities had on Monday said they had demolished 135 houses and completed the drive.
“While we are yet to receive the official copy of the order, we have been informed that the Supreme Court has directed the maintenance of status quo for the next ten days. We respect the SC’s directive, and the debris at the site will remain untouched until the status quo is maintained,” said Prashasti Srivastava, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Agra Division of North Central Railways.