SC may send Krishna Janmabhoomi lead case dispute back to HC
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 12, indicated it may remand to the Allahabad High Court a plea over which lawsuit should be treated as the lead case in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque dispute in Mathura.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva noted that the high court had not issued notices to other plaintiffs before treating one Hindu party's suit as representative of all devotees of Lord Krishna.
"The application was for something else and notices were not issued to all the plaintiffs. We in any case are inclined to remand the matter back to the high court," the bench observed.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on September 2.
The bench was hearing a plea by a Hindu party challenging a 2025 Allahabad High Court order that had treated another Hindu party, in a separate suit, as the representative of all devotees of Lord Krishna.
The bench noted that during the previous hearing, counsels had told the court across the bar that off-the-record talks were underway among the Hindu plaintiffs over whose suit would be designated the lead case.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for some of the Hindu parties, urged the court to remand the matter to the high court for a fresh decision on the issue.
The top court is currently seized of multiple petitions filed by the mosque committee and Hindu parties against various high court orders, including a challenge to its May 26, 2023 order transferring to itself all matters related to the dispute that were pending before a Mathura court.
On July 18 last year, the high court had allowed another Hindu party who had filed a separate suit seeking removal of the Shahi Idgah mosque from the disputed site to be treated as representative of all devotees.
The high court allowed an application by the plaintiff in suit number 17 of 2023 to have that case treated as the representative suit, meaning it would be heard and decided first.
The Hindu party that approached the Supreme Court said its suit had been treated as the lead case after all civil suits in the dispute were transferred to the high court, and argued that the high court erred in subsequently treating another party's suit as representative of all devotees.
The dispute concerns 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. More than 20 civil suits filed in a Mathura court were later transferred to the high court and remain pending adjudication there.
The Hindu side has urged the high court to conduct the original trial in the manner it did in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute.
On January 16, 2024, the Supreme Court stayed a December 14, 2023 high court order that had allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex and approved the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee it. The complex is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, a site of significant religious importance for Hindus.
(Inputs from PTI)
