The Uttar Pradesh government, on Sunday, February 9, initiated bulldozer action over a mosque in the Kata area in Kushinagar district, over allegations made by Hindutva workers that the mosque had encroached on government land.
The action followed as the high court’s stay order over taking actions against the mosque expired on February 8, and the mosque committee failed to produce the required documents to the district officials.
A set of five bulldozers were brought to raze down the masjid building, and the area is under heavily armed police presence. Kushinagar SP Santosh Mishra, DSP Kasya Kundan Singh, police personnel from various local police stations and BSF forces were deployed around the mosque.
Earlier in on December 18, 2024, local Hindutva workers had submitted a complaint at the chief minister’s portal alleging encroachment, to which the mosque representatives had replied saying that the Muslim community had brought 0.32 acres of land around 15 years ago, for the construction.
The complaint was followed by a survey by district officials who said that a portion of the mosque was constructed on encroached land.
The Madni mosque committee was asked to produce an original copy of the approved map of the property after the municipal records officials failed to produce the map.
The masjid committee also failed to produce the map, which led to three individuals from the mosque committee getting booked, on charges of forgery of documents showing government land as mosque property.
The Madni Mosque has been working for over two decades, which has been a prominent Islamic teaching centre, and a zonal office of the Tablighi Jamaat in eastern UP.
This post was last modified on February 9, 2025 5:45 pm