Minorities panel says Delhi MP’s claim on mosques false, recommends FIR against him

In its report, the committee said that while visiting various mosques, it found a number of temples on the pavements, inside the public parks, under a tree and even illegally occupying various roads.

The Delhi Minorities Commission on Tuesday said it has found the claims made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Parvesh Verma’s about mosques and graveyards “mushrooming” on government land in the city to be “false”. A fact-finding committee of the commission recommended registration of an FIR against Verma for allegedly “making false claims and spreading rumours to target a particular community”.

A fact-finding committee of the commission recommended registration of an FIR against Verma for allegedly “making false claims and spreading rumours to target a particular community”. (Twitter)

Minorities panel chairperson Zafarul-Islam Khan said the fact-finding committee was set up last month after Verma had complained to lieutenant governor Anil Baijal that he found 54 cases of encroachment of government land by mosques and graveyards in his parliamentary constituency West Delhi and also in north west Delhi. “The committee personally visited all these sites and probed the documents of around 69 mosques, graveyards and madrasas. None of these sites were found to be on encroached government land,” he said.

In its report, the committee said that while visiting various mosques, it found a number of temples on the pavements, inside the public parks, under a tree and even illegally occupying various roads.

Reacting to the commission’s report, Verma said, “It should be noted that the minority commission is not a government body and has merely taken suo moto cognizance of the issue. Even though most of its members are member of the Aam Aadmi Party, they do not have any right to investigate into ownership of government lands.

The BJP MP also raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday during a discussion on Public Premises Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants (amendment) bill 2019.

Khan said that the commission will file a case against Verma or lodge a complaint against him with the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha.