As the site is in a populated area, police personnel were also deployed on rooftops to maintain surveillance
SAMBHAL/NEW DELHI — Another mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district was bulldozed on Thursday, the latest in a sustained series of demolitions of mosques, madrasas, Eidgahs, mazars and other structures that the district administration says were built on public or government land.
The latest action took place in Qutubpur Satta village in the Asmoli area. The mosque, allegedly built illegally on 130 square metres of public land, was demolished in the presence of a heavy police contingent. Several revenue department officials were also present.
Justifying the action, Asmoli Circle Officer Aman Singh said police and revenue officials had received information from local residents more than a month ago that a mosque was being built illegally on land meant for public use in Qutubpur Satta village.
Following the tip, a joint team of police and revenue officials inspected the site and found the construction illegal, he said.
After an inquiry, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sambhal) passed an order declaring the construction illegal and directing its demolition, Singh said.
Four station house officers and police personnel from 10 police stations were deployed, along with a platoon of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), the officer said.
As the site is in a populated area, police personnel were also deployed on rooftops to maintain surveillance. The area was monitored through drones as well to ensure that the demolition was carried out peacefully, Singh added.
Throughout 2026, the Sambhal district administration has conducted a series of anti-encroachment drives targeting structures built on village community (gram sabha), pond, graveyard and barren government land. Officials said these operations were carried out following eviction orders from revenue and tehsildar courts under the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code.
Major Reported Actions
On January 4, authorities demolished a madrasa and commercial shops in the Salempur area, also referred to as Salimpur Salar or Hajipur. District Magistrate Rajendra Pensia said the structures had encroached on gram sabha land for over two decades. Reports noted that proceedings were filed under Section 67 of the Revenue Code to clear the commercial, rent-generating spaces.
On April 17, officials carried out a two-day demolition drive in the Mubarakpur Bandh area of Asmoli. Using heavy machinery, crews pulled down a 35-foot-high minaret and portions of a mosque, along with an Eidgah and an Imambara, to reclaim public property for a local land bank.
On June 20, the administration demolished the 50-year-old shrine of Baba Salauddin Dhak and cleared adjacent graves. Officials cited illegal occupation of government land as the basis for the action, which followed another mosque demolition earlier that month, on June 6.
Two separate Eidgah structures were razed following tehsildar court orders in July. As reported by The Hindu, an Eidgah built on land officially recorded as a graveyard in Madhan village was demolished on July 14. Three days later, on July 17, another Eidgah occupying 312 square metres of barren government land under Hazratnagar Garhi police limits was removed so the plot could be reallocated to landless families.
On October 27, authorities reclaimed approximately 450 square metres of pond land in Begumpur village that had allegedly been occupied for 25 years. Bulldozers cleared the site under police supervision following a Sub-Divisional Magistrate court eviction order.
Residents and mosque committees have frequently disputed the encroachment claims, asserting that several properties stood on donated land or plots purchased with prior approvals. Community representatives have also raised concerns that minority religious sites and residential neighbourhoods were disproportionately targeted during these campaigns.
Why Sambhal is Especially Sensitive
Sambhal remains tense after violence on November 24, 2024, during the second phase of a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, an ASI-protected mosque. Five Muslims were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesting locals and security personnel.
The survey followed a petition claiming a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.
A judicial commission constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government later concluded that the clashes were the result of a pre-planned conspiracy. The Supreme Court in September 2026 quashed the NSA detention of one accused, Mulla Afroz, while the underlying mosque-temple dispute remains in litigation.
That history explains why every demolition in Sambhal, even a small, newly built structure in a village, is read locally not as a routine revenue action, but as part of a larger contest over Muslim religious space in the district.
For now, the administration’s version is that an illegal construction on public land was removed after an inquiry and an SDM order, peacefully and under heavy security. The community’s version, as in earlier cases, is likely to be that another place of worship has been lost to a process in which the state is both complainant and judge.
