Sambhal, June 6 (IANS). Uttar Pradesh administration demolished Mustafa Qadri Mosque on Saturday. This mosque was built illegally on a part of the cemetery land.
Speaking to reporters, District Magistrate (DM) Ankit Khandelwal said, “Illegal encroachments on public land are being removed continuously in the district. In the same sequence, a complaint was received regarding illegal encroachment on ‘cemetery’ land.”
He told that the Tehsildar Court had issued a notice and ordered the removal of illegal encroachment. An appeal was filed against this in the District Magistrate’s court. During the hearing it was found that the mosque was built on public land and was illegal. Therefore, it was necessary to demolish it.
DM Khandelwal also said, “As part of the process, we are taking demolition action. We also inspected and found some posters. ‘I Love Mohammed’ was written on one of them. Some flags were also found. Further investigation is underway.”
Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kumar Bishnoi also confirmed that police found posters with ‘I Love Mohammed’ written on them and some flags at the spot. He told reporters that we will see whether these flags represent any country or religion, and will also investigate the people involved in printing them and take appropriate action.
He said that for security reasons, personnel from four police stations have been deployed at the spot.
Sub-District Magistrate (SDM) Nidhi Patel said that a fine of Rs 1,12,800 has been imposed on the manager of the mosque. He told IANS, “The manager of the mosque had appeared before the Tehsildar, but he did not raise any objection to the action. He had appeared in the case, hence the fine has been imposed on him.”
At the same time, a local resident alleged that his views were not heard properly in the court. He said that we got a unilateral order and on the basis of that action was taken against our mosque. This order was issued without listening to us. Not a single thing was heard from our side. We got a date for hearing in this case and the order was also pronounced on the same day.
–IANS
ASH/ABM
