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Shimla court orders demolition of top 3 floors of Sanjauli mosque

By, Dharamshala
Oct 06, 2024 04:49 AM IST

The court ordered that the mosque committee and the Waqf Board will bear the cost of the demolition of the unauthorised portion

Shimla municipal commissioner (MC) court on Saturday ordered the demolition of the top three unauthorised floors of Sanjauli Mosque in Shimla and gave a two-month deadline to the mosque committee to execute its orders.

The case will be heard on the remaining part of the mosque on December 21. (HT File)
The case will be heard on the remaining part of the mosque on December 21. (HT File)

The court ordered that the mosque committee and the Waqf Board will bear the cost of the demolition of the unauthorised portion. The case will be heard on the remaining part of the mosque on December 21. Following a massive protest in Shimla on September 11 demanding the demolition of an unauthorised portion of the mosque, the mosque committee had given an undertaking to the MC commissioner offering to demolish the unauthorised portion of the mosque themselves.

The lawyer representing the Waqf Board in the case, BS Thakur, said, “The president of the mosque committee had already given an undertaking. As per this, the committee had requested the demolition of the three top floors of the mosque, and the court has issued orders for this. The court has directed that the mosque committee and the Waqf Board will demolish the three floors at their own expense, with a deadline of two months.”

He added, “The decision regarding the remaining portions of the mosque will be made in due course, and the next hearing is scheduled for December 21.”

While the case of unauthorised structure of the mosque was in MC court for more than a decade, the recent protest against it arose after Hindu organisations demanded its demolition following a stray incident of assault of a Hindu businessman in Malyana near Sanjauli in Shimla.

On September 11, at least 10 persons, including six police personnel and four protestors, were injured after the police resorted to baton charges and used water cannons after the agitators broke the barricades and reached the vicinity of the mosque in Shimla’s Sanjauli. Afterwards, the protests were held in other parts of the state as well.

Mosque committee chairman Mohammed Latif said they respect the court order. “We had given in writing on September 12 that we were willing to demolish the unauthorised floors. We will not go to the court now,” he added.

The mosque dispute and the issue of unverified migrant workers also rocked the recently concluded monsoon session of the Himachal assembly as well.

The communal flare-up which has been going on in the state for nearly a month now, started on August 31 when a local businessman in the Malyana area, which is near Sanjauli, in Shimla was allegedly assaulted by some people from the Muslim community.

Afterwards, the local community demanded the demolition of the mosque in Sanjauli. Later, a protest was staged at Chaura Maidan in the vicinity of the Vidhan Sabha, demanding the demolition of an “illegal” mosque in Sanjauli.

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