Allahabad High Court seeks Uttar Pradesh response over Saharanpur mosque demolition
The Allahabad High Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to reply to a petition challenging the demolition of a mosque in Saharanpur and stayed a ₹6.41 crore damages order.
On Friday, the Allahabad High Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to answer a writ petition contesting the demolition of a 315-square-metre mosque on Collectorate premises in Saharanpur. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal also stayed the recovery of ₹6.41 crore in damages imposed on the mosque’s management and scheduled the next hearing for October. Notices were sent to the state and to Abdul Hamid, the mosque’s manager/maulavi, with a three-week deadline for responses.
The demolition followed a city magistrate’s order under the Uttar Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction and Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1972, after the district court dismissed an appeal on September 2. Senior advocate Ashish Kumar Singh, representing the petitioner, claims the eviction order ignored revenue records listing Wahid Khan and Yaqub Khan as owners and ignored the mosque’s entry in the waqf register. Additional advocate general Manish Goel countered that the petitioner’s claims are contradictory and that no documentation proving waqf dedication or private ownership has been produced, emphasizing that government records list the site as Collectorate/Kutchery.
Why it matters
The case raises questions about land ownership, religious property rights, and government authority in India.
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