Part Of 185-Year-Old Mosque Demolished In UP, Officials Claim “Encroachment”

A part of a 185-year-old mosque in Uttar Pradesh was demolished by local authorities on Tuesday. Reason: authorities claim the structure was encroaching on the Banda-Bahraich Highway.

The incident, reported from Fatehpur district, comes days after the Supreme Court underlined that bulldozer action is unacceptable under the rule of law.

The district administration claims that the portion demolished was illegal and had come up in the last two-three years, citing satellite and historical images of the mosque’s site.

The Public Works Department (PWD) claims it had given a notice to remove some parts of the mosque due to their “illegal construction” on August 17.

The mosque officials, claims the PWD, were given a month’s time and they promised to follow suit. However, they decided to challenge the order in the high court, said the PWD.

“About 20 metres of Noori Masjid, which was obstructing the widening of Banda-Bahraich Highway No. 13, was demolished by a bulldozer on Tuesday in the presence of officials and now its debris is being removed,” Lalauli police station in-charge Inspector Vrindavan Rai told news agency PTI.

The chief of the Noori Masjid Management Committee has disputed the PWD’s claim.