Mosque Graveyard And A Court Order Behind Delhi Demolition Clash

Clashes broke out at the Syed Faiz Elahi Mosque near Ramlila Maidan in the national capital Delhi on Wednesday morning. 25-30 locals pelted stones at municipal officials and police teams who had come to demolish encroachments in the mosque premises. The police fired tear gas to disperse them.

The situation there suddenly became tense due to clashes between locals and police. Five policemen were injured in these clashes. The police have arrested five of the accused. Meanwhile, the authorities have taken up the demolition of encroachments today on the orders of the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court had ordered the Delhi Municipal Corporation officials in November last year to vacate the 39,000 square feet of encroached land in the Ramlila Maidan area near Turkman Gate.

The municipality issued notices to the encroachers. Challenging the notices, the mosque management committee filed a petition in the High Court. It stated in its petition that the land they claimed to have encroached upon was waqf land and that only the waqf tribunal had the right to resolve disputes related to this land. However, the municipal officials told the court that not all of the encroached land was waqf land, and only 0.195 acres of it was waqf land.

The court directed that the encroachments on the remaining land, except for 0.195 acres of land, be removed
. The mosque committee said that it had no objection to the removal of the remaining encroachments, but requested the court to respect the cremation ground at the same place and stop its removal. In this context, the High Court heard the petition of the mosque committee on Tuesday. The court directed the Delhi Municipal Corporation, Urban Development Department and Delhi Waqf Board to respond within four weeks. The case was adjourned for further hearing on April 22.