Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The administration in Kanpur has ordered bulldozing of 50 classrooms of Madasa Islamiya Inter-College alleging that the buildings were partially constructed on a government land.
Speaking to the media, a madrasa official termed the demolition of the building illegal carried out without serving any prior notice to the madrasa authorities. The motive behind the action, he alleged is the government’s agenda to incite animosity between Hindus and Muslims.
“During the demolition, they didn’t even spare a mosque. They not only razed the mosque but also its boundaries and desecrated the Quran. They neither mapped the land nor did they serve any notice before running the bulldozer,” lamented the madrasa official.
He said when he took up the matter with the SDM he vehemently denied demolition of any building even though a large number of people gathered there are witness to the demolition.
“The buildings were located on my personal land. I have documents related to the land to prove the ownership. But nobody is there to look into these papers… I suffered losses worth 5-6 crore,” he said.
He demanded a probe into the illegal demolition of the madrasa buildings and action against those who razed them.
Kanpur admin bulldozed Islamiya inter-college in Ghatampur yesterday. The madarsa authorities said that mosque was demolished and the Quran was also desecrated without serving any notice. Around 50 classrooms were razed. pic.twitter.com/mhdEqFWeTz
— Waquar Hasan (@WaqarHasan1231) May 5, 2022
On the other hand, the administration claimed that the madrasa was allotted 14 biswa (18,900 sq.ft) land of its own, but the building of the madrasa spawned over 4 bighas (1,08,000 sq.ft). Pucca construction was done by illegally occupying five bighas and six biswa of government land, which was used for a barn, pond, and pond pit.
A video surfaced on social media shows some people accusing the administration of desecrating the Quran as they were not allowed to salvage copies of the Quran and other books.
In a statement, Kanpur police denied hurting religious sentiments and desecration of any book.
“No religious sentiments were hurt, and no holy books were desecrated. The entire procedure was carried out in a peaceful manner,” said the police.