Supreme Court urges Railways to maintain status quo in Mathura

On 16 August, the Supreme Court of India directed to maintain the status quo till any further orders on the demolition drive of reported advances on railway land near the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose, Sanjay Kumar, and SVN Bhatti issued the order granting interim relief to the petitioner till further order. The court also passed notice to the respondents in the matter.

Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen, who appeared for the petitioner, said that the authorities started demolition on 9 August, and people have been residing there since the 1800s. Petitioners were represented by advocates Radha Tarkar and Aaron Shaw.

One petitioner filed a civil suit before the Civil Court Senior Division, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, asking for a permanent injunction against the railway authority, but meanwhile, the demolition work continued on 9 August.

According to the petitioner, they have approached the Civil Court as well as the High Court, but all the courts are closed and they could not put forward their issue. Taking advantage of this situation, the Railway Authority has started the process of demolishing the house of the petitioners in the most arbitrary manner, the petitioner claimed.

The petitioner has tried their best to stop the demolition but everything went in vain and now they are compelled to approach the top court and urge the apex court to issue a direction to stop the demolition where they have been staying since 1880.