Archive · 13 Aug 2026
Supreme Court signals Mathura suits return to Allahabad High Court
In the city of Mathura in India, there is an old mosque called the Shahi Idgah Mosque.
Some people believe a very old Hindu temple stood there before the mosque was built.
That temple was dedicated to Krishna, a very important god in the Hindu religion.
Other people think the mosque should stay just as it is.
This argument has been going to court for a long time.
India's highest court, the Supreme Court, heard the case.
The judges said the case needs to go back to a lower court, called the Allahabad High Court.
They said this because not everyone involved in the case was told about the hearings.
The Supreme Court also stopped a plan to inspect the mosque earlier.
Now everyone will wait two more weeks to see what happens next.
The Supreme Court indicated it will send the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque suits back to the Allahabad High Court.
The bench said the high court did not issue notices to many of the 17-odd plaintiffs in the dispute.
On January 16, 2024, the apex court stayed a high court order appointing a court commissioner to inspect the Shahi Idgah mosque.
Hindu claimants say Mughals built the mosque after destroying an ancient Krishna temple at Mathura.
The mosque committee cited the 1991 Places of Worship Act to question the suits' maintainability; the matter was adjourned for two weeks.
- Who
- A Supreme Court of India bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, Hindu claimants represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, and the Shahi Idgah Mosque committee.
- What
- The Supreme Court indicated it will return the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque suits to the Allahabad High Court because it did not issue notices to all 17-odd plaintiffs.
- When
- At Wednesday's hearing; the matter was adjourned for two weeks. The inspection stay was granted on January 16, 2024 and extended in January last year.
- Where
- Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, India; the suits are to go back to the Allahabad High Court.
- Why
- The high court did not serve notices to all the plaintiffs before deciding the core ownership issue.
Hindu claimants
Mosque committee
Claim to the contested site
Hindu claimants
The Shahi Idgah Mosque was built by Mughals after destroying an ancient temple at the birthplace of Krishna in Mathura.
Mosque committee
The suits are not maintainable because the 1991 Places of Worship Act bars courts from entertaining pleas to alter religious structures as they stood in 1947, except the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi.
Court-ordered inspection of the mosque
Hindu claimants
The high court's order appointing a court commissioner to inspect the Shahi Idgah mosque was part of deciding the ownership dispute brought by the Hindu plaintiffs.
Mosque committee
The mosque committee challenged the inspection order, and the Supreme Court stayed it in January 2024.
- Dispute
- Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque
- Location
- Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Bench
- Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva
- Plaintiffs
- 17-odd Hindu claimants
- Inspection stay
- January 16, 2024
- Law cited
- Places of Worship Act, 1991
- Next hearing
- In two weeks