DEMOLITION OF MOSQUE IN BARABANKI SPARKS CONTROVERSY
LUCKNOW : Controversy erupted after authorities demolished a decades-old mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil area of Barabanki on Monday amidst police deployment, claiming that it was an illegal structure.
The tehsil is located on a highway on the Barabanki-Ayodhya border, nearly 55 km from Ayodhya headquarters.
Authorities said it was an illegal structure constructed on the land owned by the tehsil. However, the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board claimed it was a 100-yearold mosque situated near the tehsil compound at Ram Sanehi Ghat.
LUCKNOW : Controversy erupted after authorities demolished a decades-old mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil area of Barabanki on Monday amidst police deployment, claiming that it was illegal.
The tehsil is located on a highway on the Barabanki-Ayodhya border, nearly 55 km from Ayodhya headquarters.
Authorities said it was an illegal structure constructed on the land owned by the tehsil. However, the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board claimed it was a 100-yearold mosque situated near the tehsil compound at Ram Sanehi Ghat.
In a press note, the chairman of UP Sunni Waqf Board, Zufar Ahmad Faruqi condemned the Barabanki administration’s action. “It is high handedness of the local administration, particularly that of the sub divisional magistrate, Ram Sanehi Ghat,” he stated.
The board stated that they will approach the high court demanding restoration of the mosque, a high level judicial inquiry and action against the officers concerned.
A Barabanki resident, Iqbal Naseem Nomani Dariyabadi, a lawyer at Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil, condemned the administration’s action and stated that he was offering namaz at the mosque for the past 35-36 years.
Dariyabadi said he was unable to understand the motive behind the hurried action of the administration during the pandemic.
During a verification drive in March, it was found that some suspicious people were living in the “illegal structure” constructed on the Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil premises, said a district administration official.
“Three persons living there escaped when asked to show their identity proofs,” he added.
“Subsequently, a gate was installed at the tehsil entrance and outsiders’ entry was restricted. In retaliation to this, a group of people turned violent and engaged in stone pelting on March 19, following which an FIR was lodged against over 189 people while some people were arrested,” he said.
He said the alleged occupants later approached the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court and the court, in its order dated March 18, 2021, gave them 15 days’ time to present documentary evidence to prove that the construction was not illegal.
Later, SDM of Ram Sanehi Ghat issued an order (dated April 3, 2021) for the removal of the structure.
In a video, Barabanki district magistrate Adarsh Singh called the demolished structure as a residential place that was constructed illegally on the tehsil premises in front of the house of SDM (Ram Sanehi Ghat).
The occupants escaped from there when a notice was sent to them to prove their ownership on March 15, 2021.
The administration took possession of the structure on March 18, 2021, he added.