Lucknow: A political row has damaged out in Uttar Pradesh over the demolition of a mosque situated contained in the Saharanpur Collectorate premises, with Opposition leaders questioning the velocity of the motion and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) claiming that the construction was an unlawful building on authorities land that was eliminated on a courtroom order.
The mosque was demolished on Saturday amid heavy police deployment, days after a district courtroom rejected an enchantment filed by the mosque administration committee and upheld an earlier order declaring the construction unlawful.
As per Saharanpur Vary Deputy Inspector Normal of Police (DIG) Abhishek Singh, town Justice of the Peace’s courtroom discovered that the mosque was illegally constructed on authorities land. The mosque committee challenged the demolition order earlier than the district courtroom, however its enchantment was dismissed in a month-and-a half of proceedings.
ThePrint has learnt that the dispute started following a grievance final yr by Bajrang Dal chief Vikas Tyagi. A case was subsequently filed earlier than town Justice of the Peace on 24 March 2025 underneath the Uttar Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. After a chronic listening to, town Justice of the Peace on 16 July declared the mosque unlawful, ordering eviction and demolition.
The mosque committee challenged the order within the district courtroom, which dismissed the enchantment on 2 September, upholding town Justice of the Peace’s choice.
“Town Justice of the Peace’s courtroom discovered that the mosque had been illegally constructed on authorities land. The enchantment filed by the mosque committee in opposition to its demolition was additionally dismissed,” DIG Singh informed the media on Saturday.
The mosque committee, nonetheless, had argued that the property was waqf land and claimed that the mosque was round 150 years previous. The committee additionally cited paperwork relationship again to 1911 in help of its declare that the mosque predated the collectorate. Authorities within the district, nonetheless, maintained that the committee couldn’t produce adequate proof earlier than the courtroom to substantiate its declare relating to the mosque.
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‘Pattern of fast justice’
The demolition additionally sparked a political row, with Samajwadi Get together Member of Parliament Iqra Hasan alleging that she was positioned underneath home arrest at her residence in Kairana earlier than the demolition to stop her from travelling to Saharanpur. Hasan shared a video on X displaying police personnel allegedly stopping her from leaving.
Hasan mentioned, “Today, there’s a development of ‘fast justice’ within the state. Even a terrorist will get a number of alternatives, together with the choice to file a mercy petition. However a verdict was delivered the day earlier than yesterday, and even a single night time’s time was not given. This can be a mosque that was constructed earlier than 1947. The Locations of Worship Act applies to it, as does the precept of waqf by consumer. All these provisions have been ignored.”
The SP MP alleged that the non secular website was demolished as a result of it belonged to a specific group. “Since individuals from a specific group have been affected, their place of worship was razed to the bottom. That is dictatorship. We are going to method the courtroom in opposition to this,” she mentioned whereas chatting with the media.
Congress MP Imran Masood, who represents Saharanpur, criticised the demolition and alleged that the administration ignored info offered by the mosque’s supporters. “Our individuals stayed awake all through the night time. We saved attempting to stay in contact with the officers. Regardless of offering all the knowledge, the mosque was demolished. In actuality, it isn’t simply the mosque that has been demolished, the Structure has been violated.”
He claimed that the mosque existed even earlier than 1911 and that possession information have been nonetheless within the names of Wahid and Yaqub Khan. He additionally alleged that the Waqf Board was neither made a celebration to the proceedings nor concerned within the motion. “The mosque was surrounded from all sides and other people have been confined to their properties. After that, the mosque was demolished,” Masood informed ThePrint.
Masood additional questioned the haste with which the motion was carried out, saying that if reduction was not granted by a decrease courtroom, each citizen had the best to method a better courtroom. “I’ve repeatedly mentioned that this mosque is a part of town’s heritage. Defending this heritage is the duty of the complete society,” he mentioned, interesting to individuals from all communities to guard peace and concord.
The controversy took one other activate Sunday after an almost 20-foot deep effectively was found throughout clearing work on the website a day after the demolition.
Later officers examine the spot, whereas calls for emerged for an archaeological examination of the effectively, together with its soil and brickwork.
Akhilesh, Mayawati goal govt
The demolition drew criticism from a number of Opposition leaders. Former chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Get together (BSP) chief Mayawati mentioned the federal government ought to cease what she described as a marketing campaign of hurriedly declaring mosques unlawful and demolishing them throughout Uttar Pradesh.
“The federal government ought to instantly cease this and search for different methods to resolve such issues to stop the state of affairs from deteriorating additional,” she mentioned.
Samajwadi Get together chief Akhilesh Yadav took to on social media platform X, posting, “Sustaining concord is the federal government’s greatest duty and in addition its greatest achievement.”
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi additionally criticised the demolition, saying the mosque had been standing for greater than a century. “Why was the mosque demolished at 5 am right now? Is the constitutional proper to non secular freedom not left for Muslims?” Owaisi mentioned on X.
He mentioned the mosque committee had produced paperwork relationship to 1911 to argue that the place of worship existed earlier than the collectorate and had been used constantly for prayers for greater than a century.
Alternatively, whereas defending the motion, BJP chief Sangeet Som defended the administration’s motion, saying the construction was not a mosque however an unlawful constructing constructed on authorities land. “It was not a mosque, it was an unlawful constructing. Any such constructions will likely be demolished. This motion has been taken on the orders of the courtroom, and going ahead too, all such constructions will likely be eliminated in accordance with the legislation and courtroom orders,” Som informed the media on Sunday.
He additionally claimed that the effectively discovered on the website was round 400 years previous and alleged that it had been encroached upon throughout the construction. Som accused earlier governments led by the Samajwadi Get together and the Congress of permitting unauthorised constructions to come back up on authorities land.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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