An official in the Uttarakhand police, citing district administration records, said the mosque was legal and built on registered land
Team Clarion
UTTARKASHI — Claiming that a 75-year-old mosque located in this Uttarakhand city has been built on unregistered land, members of some Hindutva outfits have demanded its demolition. But authorities have rejected their demand claiming that the mosque was legal.
An official in the Uttarakhand police, citing district administration records, said the mosque was built on registered land.
Amit Srivastava, Superintendent of Police (SP), Uttarkashi, said: “Some right-wing organisations had given a memorandum to the administration, in which they stated that it is an illegal mosque. According to the district administration, it is built on registered land, and it is not illegal. It is registered in the name of four people. The administration has conveyed the same to the right-wing organisations.”
“We will not allow anybody to take the law into their hands”, Srivastava was quoted as saying in a Hindustan Times report on Wednesday.
An umbrella group of right-wing organisations — Sanyukt Sanatan Dharam Rakshak Sangh — submitted a memorandum to Uttarkashi District Magistrate Meharban Singh Bisht on Monday demanding the demolition.
The organisation members held a public demonstration outside the DM office on Friday pressing for their demands with a three-day deadline.
During the protest, speakers gave an ultimatum to the administration and threatened to carry out the demolition themselves if authorities did not act as per their demand.
“This mosque will be demolished. This is my appeal to the Hindu organisations that we will have to carry out this demolition. If the administration does not agree to demolish it, we will have to do it,” said a speaker amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
A video of the protest has surfaced on social media. In the video, the protesters can be heard shouting provocative slogans “Mullo ke rakhwale ko, bahar nikal saalo ko” (Bring out the protectors of Muslims). They also raised slogans calling for the demolition of the mosque.
Local Muslims said that they are now scared after the protest against the mosque.
“Around 15 Muslim families have been living in the colony for over eight decades. Around 7-8 generations of the families have spent their lives here in peace and harmony. There was no reason for the unprovoked rally. It was unlike the ones in Nandanagar or Purola where some criminal incident had taken place. Also, the mosque which they are claiming to be illegal and demanding its demolition, was registered in 1969 with all the proper legal documentation and has a capacity of holding around 700 people. We’re all scared with this sudden development and met the SP on Monday to ensure our safety,” a resident was quoted by Times of India as saying.
A Hindu resident Anuj Soni, who has been staying in the same locality with the Muslim families for over three decades, termed the protest rally “a surprising development”.
Soni said: “We’ve been living cordially, without any issues. We don’t know who these people (protesters) are. The local administration should take all measures to ensure peace and communal harmony in our town.”
In another similar incident, members of some Hindutva groups held a sit-in in Dehradun’s Paltan Bazar allegedly asking Muslim traders to “vacate the shops taken on rent”.
The state has witnessed several attacks on Muslims and hate campaigns against them. In the Chamoli district, shops belonging to members of the Muslim community were vandalised recently.
Meanwhile, a Muslim body, ‘Muslim Seva Sangathan’, has decided to move the high court, for the “protection of minority rights” while drawing attention towards government inaction.
