In a video that surfaced online the mosque’s imam, Imam Zakir Hussain mourned the loss of the mosque and stated that it not only housed a madrasa where students came to learn called the Madrasa Bahrul Uloom but also held the sacred graves of revered figures. The demolition allegedly took place just before the call to the morning prayers and caught the local residents and early day worshippers by surprise and shock.

In #Delhi‘s #Mehrauli,A 600-year-old mosque was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (#DDA) at 6 am on Tuesday, said Imam Zakir Hussain. Debris were completely removed so that people don’t get to know about the demolition.

The mosque named Masjid Akhonji had a Madrasa… pic.twitter.com/CR2oUJmYB7

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) January 30, 2024

The Imam has further accused the DDA officials of being careful to remove the demolition debris so as to hide signs of the demolition from the public. Furthermore, he has claimed that the authorities even forcefully took the phones from him and other people present at the incident due to which none of them could document the demolition. The Imam also further stated that the authorities did not even let him and others salvage the copies of the holy Qur’an before the demolition. Furthermore, the Imam has also stated that not only were the sacred artefacts and books within the mosque desecrated, but officials also destroyed the belongings and properties, such as food and clothing items, of the 22 students studying at the Madrasa.  The demolition, reportedly, took place with a considerable amount of police presence.

This shocking development comes only months after the DDA had expressly told a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula at the Delhi High Court that no mosque, graveyard, or legally owned Waqf property would be demolished by the authorities in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in response to a petition by the Delhi Waqf Board.

Citizens online have decried the “unconstitutional” nature of the demolition. The demolition comes in the line of various incidents where various state governments have selectively carried out demolitions of properties owned by Muslims. Recently as per a video posted by Hate Detector on the social media site, X, released in which the Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, can be seen boasting about having conducted 50,000 demolitions of homes in the state and expressed that Assam does not get as much “publicity.”

Related:

Rajasthan: State Education Minister warns of bulldozer action against teachers

Around the inauguration of Ram Temple, communal tension erupted in Uttar Pradesh

75th Republic Day of India: Hindutva Juggernaut Rolls on to Demolish Democratic-Secular Indian Republic?

Global Risks 2024: misinformation and climate risks some of the biggest challenges of the coming decade

The post Historic 600 year old Delhi mosque demolished without notice appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: India Today

In Delhi’s Bengali Market area is a mosque standing tall for almost 250 years which now has a bunch of debris lying next to as a part of it has been razed to the ground by Delhi administration with the assistance of Delhi Police. This part of the mosque was a Madrassa where about 125 orphan children were residing is now demolished.

On Tuesday, Land And Development Office (L&DO), the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) conducted this “anti-encroachment” drive and demolished the boundary wall of the Bengali market mosque as that wall was abutting L&DO property. A Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs official told The Indian Express that the mosque and the madrasa have been left untouched and only a part of a wall abutting L&DO property was demolished. However, pictures tell a different story.

Image: India Today

All this, without giving any kind of notice to the management of the mosque. Advocate Mehmood Pracha was also present at the demolition site and demanded repeatedly from the police officer present, a copy of the order showing that the demolition has been authorised. However, despite repeated asks, the police officer kept avoiding showing the order, saying he will show it at the “right time”, as can be seen in a report by Millat Times. Pracha also demanded that the police officer take down his complaint that a dacoity had taken place there since all belongings were taken away and the structures illegally razed. However, to no avail. Pracha was then escorted  away by Delhi Police.

Illegal demolition of a 250 yrs old Mosque in Delhi. Adv @MehmoodPracha asked for legal orders but Administration hadn’t. ViA @Millat_Timespic.twitter.com/VWIYwJr1WU

— ?rundhati…?️? (@Polytikles) April 12, 2023

Trustees of the mosque said they are a privately-funded establishment and that the mosque runs on donation money. They told India Today that the land on which the structure was built belongs to the Waqf board.

Amidst all this, the Madrassa staff offered water and juice to the Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel who were present for security there.

Look at the beauty of my religion. The Bengali Market Madarsa staff offering water, juice to police & RAF posted for security at the demolition site. Those serving are themselves fasting & grieving the demolition. Even in such a time they are being kind. @azadsubhani pic.twitter.com/pETjZsyDvd

— Dr. Aqsa Shaikh (@doctorsaheba) April 12, 2023

Related:

Evictions are at an all-time high as bulldozers gain momentum in the country

UP: Demolition drive goes awry, mother daughter burnt alive

MP: In CM’s Home District, Bulldozers Reduce 20 Homes Built Under PMAY to Rubble

Even “encroachers” need to be rehabilitated says Courts

The post 250-year-old mosque in Delhi partially demolished in “anti encroachment drive” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On social media, a video of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Saidabad being destroyed is being extensively shared. In the footage, you can see a bulldozer destroying a mosque. Reportedly, under the “pretense” of a road-widening project, a historic mosque known as the Shahi Masjid was destroyed on January 9 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh’s Saidabad market.

The Intezamia Committee of the Shahi Masjid had argued that the construction (Shahi Masjid) has been in existence for a long time, i.e., since before independence and hence the monument has historic value, too. It is during the 16th century, during Sher Shah Suri’s rule, who established the Sur Empire in India, that the mosque is said to have been constructed. As is being reported, security personnel and representatives from the Public Works Department were present throughout the destruction.

According to the mosque’s Imam, Mohammad Babul Hussain, the case was scheduled for hearing today, January 16, in the lower court where it was being heard, reported TwoCircles.net. Hussain claimed that despite the matter being filed before a lower court, the demolition still went ahead. Hussain further informed the media that the trust that runs the mosque has even filed an affidavit in court on January 10 following the demolition.

“We told the officials that the matter is going to the lower court but the mosque was still demolished,” Hussain was quoted in Dainik Bhaskar. 

It is pertinent to note that in August, 2022, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed a request filed to halt the scheduled destruction. After a notice regarding the same was issued to the Shahi Masjid by the Public Works Department, the locals had first approached the High Court, which in turn asked the petitioners to go to the Civil Court.  The High Court had clarified that as per government report, the masjid has been constructed by “encroaching government land.” The mosque trust has reportedly traced the building to the 16th century.

The order of the High Court can be read here.

The video can be viewed here: 

16th century Shahi Masjid was demolished by Indian authorities to widen a road in Allahabad, #UttarPradesh.

According to the Imam of the mosque, the demolition occurred just days before the lower court was set to hear the case.#India #Islamophobia pic.twitter.com/4zMtVGX5MZ

— DOAM (@doamuslims) January 16, 2023

The said video has also been shared by Ashok Swain, the former chair of International Water Cooperation at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),on his official Twitter handle.

Journalist and activist against Islamophobia CJ Werleman also shared the video, saying that the mosque has been demolished by the Hindutva regime under the pretext of widening the road.

Other instances of attack on mosques in UP

On November 17, in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, district authorities razed down a 300-year old mosque. As provided by the official involved in the razing, the 300-year-old mosque was demolished as it came in the way of 709 AD Panipat-Khatimahighway. The said demolition was deemed as a required move for the motive of road widening.

A civil court in Mathura recently ordered a survey of the 17th-century Shahi Idgah Mosque after a right-wing Hindu group claimed that the mosque was constructed on the birthplace of Lord Krishna. This came about amid the controversy surrounding the discovery of a “Shivling” inside the Gyanvapimosque in Varanasi. Mathura is located 57 kilometers north of Agra city. The Archaeological Survey of India was subsequently requested to perform a survey after January 2 by the municipal court in Mathura. After January 20, the report will be submitted to the court.

In the past month, thousands of Muslims in different Indian states have faced the possibility of being evicted from their homes due to this anti-Muslim propaganda, a report on which can be read here. 

Related: 

Spate of Demolitions continue, 44 Muslim families asked to vacate homes: Kushinagar, UP

Bulldozer injustice: this will only stop when a police officer is sent to jail, says Patna HC

‘Stop Bulldozer Raj’ Slogan Echoes at Jantar Mantar

“Bulldozer Injustice”: Time for courts to actively step in

BJP’s Bulldozer is Breaking the Law: Subhashini Ali former MP, Kanpur

SC stays Uttarakhand HC Order, residents can’t be evicted in seven days

 UP: After Gyanvapi, Mathura Court Orders Shahi IdgahSurvey; ‘Violation’ of Places of Worship Act, Say Activists

The post Anti-Muslim targeting continues in UP, another historical Mosque is demolished appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A mosque that had existed peacefully in Ram Sanehi Ghat, a city in Barabanki, in Uttar Pradesh, for decades, has been bulldozed. According to a report in The Guardian, the destruction of the Mosque has violated a High Court order. This action in Uttar Pradesh, already a communally sensitive state, as the Guardian puts it is “one of the most inflammatory actions taken against a Muslim place of worship since the demolition of the Babri Mosque by a mob of Hindu nationalist rioters in 1992.” 

As per the documents held by the mosque committee, the place of worship had stood for at least six decades, perhaps more. According to the report, it was on Monday, that the police and other security services arrived, and cleared the area of people, they then “brought in bulldozers and demolished the mosque”. It has been reported that the “debris was then thrown into a river” hence leaving no or little ‘evidence’ of the destruction. This destruction, which can have a long lasting negative impact, comes in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been at its worst in some states including Uttar Pradesh. 

Security forces are still said to have been deployed in the area now “to prevent anyone coming within a mile of where the mosque stood”, stated the news report. The Guardian quotes the local imam, Maulana Abdul Mustafa, who is also a member of the mosque committee, saying that the mosque was “hundreds of years old” adding that “thousands of people have been coming here five times a day to offer namaz.” He said that the Muslims of the area were scared, and so did not dare to go towards the mosque, let alone protest, when it was being demolished. He added that in the aftermath of the demolition, “several dozen people are leaving their homes and hiding in other areas out of the fear of the police.” However, the District Magistrate, Adarsh Singh, told the Guardian, “I do not know any mosque. I know there was an illegal structure. The Uttar Pradesh high court declared it illegal. That’s why the regional senior district magistrate took action. I will not say anything else.”

However, according to the report, this demolition is in violation of a high court order dated April 24. The HC had ordered that the mosque should be protected from any eviction or demolition until May 31. On March 15, the local administration had issued a “show cause” notice to the mosque committee. The committee was asked to explain “how the building’s location was chosen and citing an intention to demolish it on the grounds that it was an illegal structure.”

According to the news report, the mosque committee “sent a detailed response, including documents demonstrating the building had an electricity connection from 1959, but the local administration did not take the response on to official record.” The committee approached the Allahabad High Court on March 18, stating concerns of  “imminent demolition” that the mosque faced and the HC passed an order seeking a reply from the local administration on what “grounds on which it had established that the mosque had been illegally built and was obstructing traffic, even though the structure did not sit on a road” reported The Guardian.

Meanwhile, a “structure” was built around it, allegedly blocking the access to the mosque in the next few days. And on March 19, the Guardian reports, the local Muslims “were prevented from entering the mosque for Friday prayers, causing tension and protests in the area”. It was reported that over 35 local Muslims who had protested were subsequently arrested, and more protesters were named in the police reports.

These actions by the administration raised concerns of the mosque committee which in  April filed a public interest litigation in the high court, stated the news report. On April 24, the HC ordered that “any orders of eviction, dispossession or demolition …shall remain in abeyance until 31.05.21”. However, on Monday, May 17, the mosque was razed to the ground amidst heavy police deployment. According to the Guardian, “Local Muslims in the area, including members of the mosque committee, said they had gone into hiding over fears they would be targeted and arrested.” The Guardian highlighted that this area is in a district that “is adjacent to Ayodhya, where the Babri Mosque stood before its demolition in 1992.”

India Today had reported that UP’s Adityanath-led government’s Home Department had issued instructions on March 12, “to demolish all religious places on the roads or along them constructed after January 2011” adding that the government said “religious places built before January 1, 2011, will be shifted elsewhere.” 

However, this demolition is in clear violation of the HC ruling that “any orders of eviction, dispossession or demolition …shall remain in abeyance until 31.05.21”.  

Related

EXCLUSIVE: Are Varanasi police trying to create communal tension?
Yet another demand for ASI survey in UP, plea to look for idols buried under mosque
Gyanvapi case: Pleas before Allahabad HC challenging ASI survey order
Babri demolition case judge appointed UP’s deputy Lok Ayukta
 

The post UP: Ram Sanehi Ghat mosque demolished despite HC ruling to protected it till May 31 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Nizamuddin Tikona graveyard is situated near Khusro Park, Delhi. The graveyard is claimed to be more than 500 years old. Even as per Gazette records, the graveyard is shown to be more than 100 years old.

In the same graveyard, three mosques and two dargahs are situated. The whole graveyard is listed under the property of the Delhi Waqf board, over which the mosque and dargah have been built.

Around the graveyard, low-income people built their shelters. To remove these shelters, a PIL in Delhi High Court was filed back in 2015.

Taking action as per the court’s order on the PIL, Delhi Development Authority demolished the temporary shelters on May 16, 2017. But along with demolishing the temporary shelters, DDA’s bulldozers ran over some concrete homes in the vicinity.

The concrete structures which faced DDA’s action were Dargah Hazrat Shaikh and Masjid al Firdaus. To make matters worse, DDA marked other Dargahs and Mosques situated in the Tikona graveyard and told locals that they will be demolished in the coming days.

But this action of DDA backfired when management team of Dargah, some activists and lawyers took the DDA’s action to the court and Court stayed the further action for 15 days.

Moreover, the local shopkeepers and businessmen shut their shops to protest against DDA’s unlawful actions.

Khalid Miyan, Mutwalli of Mosque and Dargah told TwoCircles.net, “The decision to demolish those illegal shelter houses would be right because those were becoming a center of unlawful activities.”

He also said, “But DDA took advantage of his action. They said that the Khusro park belongs to DDA and inbuilt mosques and Dargahs are illegal. But the park is listed in 1972 Gazette as a property of Waqf board.”

Despite several tries at Delhi Development Authority, the officers were not available to comment on the issue. The Court has set the date of July 24 for next hearing on the matter.

Courtesy: Two Circles

The post Dargahs, Mosques demolished in Nizamuddin area of Delhi; businessmen shut shops in protest appeared first on SabrangIndia.