The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo with regard to the demolition drive being carried out by railway authorities to clear alleged illegal constructions near the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose, Sanjay Kumar and SVN Bhatti issued notice to the Centre and others in the matter.
The lawyer, appearing for the petitioner Yakub Shah, told the bench that 100 houses have been bulldozed. “There are 70-80 houses left. Whole thing will become infructuous. They conducted the exercise on a day when Uttar Pradesh courts were closed,” he said. The court has put the demolition drive on hold for 10 days and issued notice to Centre on the pleas against demolition and posts case after one week.
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Demolitions near Mathura's Shri Krishna Janmasthan
Around 100 houses were demolished in the Nai Basti area, which is predominantly inhabited by minority population.
"Structures illegally constructed on railway land are being removed following due process. The land is required to transform the line from Mathura to Vrindavan from narrow gauge to broad gauge," Nitin Garg, the Divisional Work Engineer of Railways said, according to a report by Times of India.
The affected residents alleged that despite ongoing legal proceedings and the matter being sub-judice, the demolition was carried out.
