Mathura case: SC defers hearing; talks underway between Hindu litigants

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred hearing on a plea related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah mosque dispute in Mathura after the court was informed that Hindu parties were in talks with each other as to whose lawsuit will be the lead case in the matter.

The top court was hearing a plea of a Hindu party in the matter challenging a 2025 Allahabad High Court order, which treated another Hindu party, in another suit, as a representative of all devotees of Lord Krishna.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva posted the matter for further hearing on August 12 after counsel for one of the Hindu parties submitted that some off-the-record talks are going on between the plaintiffs.


Also Read: Supreme Court adjourns suo motu case on NCLT vacancies, infrastructure; says appointments process underway

At the outset, the bench asked advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for some of the Hindu parties and advocate PV Yogeswaran, appearing for another Hindu side in the dispute, whether any talks were going on among themselves.

"We will adjourn the matter, if something is going on between the parties," Justice Kumar said. Yogeswaran submitted that they don't want the court to record anything about the talks in the order as it has been going on between the plaintiffs and was off-record.

Justice Kumar said the matter has been adjourned numerous times and it can be adjourned this time only if something was going on between the parties.

"We are not going to bind the parties to the talks. If something is going on, then it can be recorded in the order also. What's the harm in it? Anyway," the bench told the counsels while adjourning the matter to August.

The top court is already seized of multiple petitions filed by the mosque committee and Hindu sides against various orders, including a challenge to the May 26, 2023, order of the high court transferring to itself all matters related to the dispute pending before the Mathura court.

On July 18, last year, the high court allowed another Hindu party, which has filed a separate suit seeking the removal of the Shahi Idgah mosque from the disputed site in Mathura, to be treated as the representative of all devotees.

The high court had allowed an application moved by the plaintiff in suit number 17 of 2023 to treat his plaint as the representative one of all other suits in the Krishna Janmbhoomi-Shahi Idgah mosque dispute at Mathura.

After this, suit number 17 will be treated as the representative suit and will be heard and decided first, the high court had said.

The aggrieved Hindu party moved the apex court and said his suit was treated as the lead case after all civil suits in the dispute were transferred to the high court but the high court erred in treating another party as the representative of all devotees.

The bench headed by Justice Kumar had earlier said the issue required detailed examination and asked the parties to come prepared for arguments.

The dispute is related to the Shahi Idgah mosque, which the Hindu side claims was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after demolishing a temple at the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura.

Over 20 civil suits filed in a Mathura court were transferred to the high court and are pending adjudication before it.

The Hindu side had made a prayer before the high court that it should conduct the original trial like it did in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute.

The top court, on January 16, 2024, had stayed the operation of the December 14, 2023 order of the high court, which allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex and agreed to the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee it.

The Hindu side claims the premises hold signs suggesting that a temple once existed at the site.

The complex is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, a site of significant religious importance for Hindus.