Wed Jan 15 20:50:00 UTC 2025: ## Supreme Court Cautions Against Judicial Intervention in Religious Disputes
**New Delhi, January 16, 2025** – The Supreme Court expressed reservations Wednesday about the judiciary’s role in religious matters, urging caution in its intervention. The court’s concerns arose during a hearing on a long-standing dispute between the Orthodox Malankara and Jacobite denominations of the Malankara Church in Kerala.
The court, hearing arguments from senior advocates representing both sides, questioned the extent to which it should involve itself in such matters. Justice Surya Kant, heading the bench, noted that intervention in one religious dispute could lead to others, raising concerns about the judiciary’s overall role.
The case centers on a decades-long conflict over the administration of over 2,000 parish churches and impacting 30 million followers worldwide. While a 2017 Supreme Court judgment upheld the 1934 constitution of the Malankara Church as the governing document, the dispute continues.
Following a December 17th hearing, the court had ordered a status quo and requested the Kerala government to provide data on the Orthodox Christian population, church details, and asset information. However, fearing potential exacerbation of tensions, lawyers urged the court to keep the data sealed.
The Supreme Court heeded these concerns. Justice Kant directed the Kerala government not to publish or circulate the collected data, emphasizing the court’s desire for an amicable resolution between the two factions. The court will resume hearing the case on January 29th and 30th.
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