The Supreme Court on Friday (July 17) halted the demolitions of structures belonging to the petitioners near the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan for two weeks, while asking the affected parties to approach the division bench of the Rajasthan High Court for relief.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe refused to entertain the writ petition filed by eight petitioners, and asked them to file intra-court appeal in the Rajasthan High Court.

On July 13, a single bench of the Rajasthan High Court had dismissed a batch of writ petitions challenging the demolition drive in the border region affecting various structures, including mosques, kabarstans and dargahs. The demolitions were carried out following the expansion of the Border Security Force's area of operations to a 50-kilometre radius from the international border. The High Court observed that the matter pertained to national security and rejected the allegations of religious discrimination. The High Court further held that in issues relating to national security, strict adherence to principles of natural justice was not required.

The writ petition in the Supreme Court was filed by a set of other affected individuals. The Supreme Court has however, refused to entertain the matter, and relegated the parties to the High Court, while granting them limited protection for two weeks. The matter was dismissed as withdrawn.

"Till the Writ Petition/Writ Appeal is taken up by the High Court i.e, within two weeks from today, no coercive action will be taken by the respondent(s) against the petitioners. It is made clear that we have not examined the matter and we are not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case. It is for the High Court to consider the petition(s) on their own merits," the Supreme Court observed.

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Huzefa Ahmadi appeared for the petitioners.

Case : Taj Mohd and others v. State of Rajasthan and others | WP(c) 818/2026

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