A mosque in the District Magistrate’s office complex situated in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur has been razed down on Saturday. The move comes following the District Judge’s court rejecting an appeal filed by the Muslim side against an earlier order that declared the structure illegal.
Senior administrative officials, including the District Magistrate and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, had reached the site as bulldozers started the demolition. The complex was under heavy security. Meanwhile, the mosque was reportedly sealed on Friday.
JCB machines, dumpers, and other demolition equipment were used to raze the site.
Saharanpur Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Abhishek Singh said that the City Magistrate’ court found the structure illegally standing on government land. He further said that the mosque committee’s appeal was dismissed and all preventive measures were put in place to maintain law and order.
All the gates of the mosque were sealed, and no outsider was allowed inside it. Additional police were also brought in from other districts. Police movement has been elevated from Friday evening.
The dispute originates from a complaint filed by Vikas Taygi, former provincial convenor of the Bajrang Dal. Ahead of this, a petition under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act was filed. The Court of City Magistrate declared the mosque illegal on July 16, earlier this year, and imposed a penalty of Rs. 6.41 crore.
Challenging the order, the mosque side approached the District Judge’s Court on July 20, 2026. The matter came up for hearing on 17 dates before the court delivered its ruling on September 2.
The District Judge’s Court upheld the order passed by the City Magistrate and dismissed the petition filed by the mosque side. The administration subsequently proceeded with the demolition following the court’s ruling.
Meanwhile, the Muslim side has questioned the basis for the demolition. The Muslim side argued that the City Magistrate’s order directed that the mosque be vacated, not to demolish it explicitly.
Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Hasan said she was placed under house arrest.
“To prevent me from going to Saharanpur last night, a large police force was deployed at my Kairana residence, and I was placed under house arrest,” Hasan said.
“In a democracy, public representatives are elected to raise the voice of the people. That voice cannot be suppressed by stopping me,” she said.
Congress MP Imran Masood likewise said the Muslim side would challenge the matter before the High Court. Referring to revenue records, Masood said the names of Wahid Khan and Yaqub Khan appeared in the documents and argued that both the revenue entries and the structure’s long-standing existence should have been taken into consideration before the demolition.
Talking to PTI, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, “A mosque located inside the Saharanpur Collectorate premises, which has been active since 1911 or even earlier was built on a land privately donated by a Muslim individual for that purpose. That mosque remained active right up until September 2026. About a month and a half ago, an order was issued by the District Magistrate, Kuldeep Singh, claiming that it was not a mosque and ordering its removal. The matter was taken to court, but the lower court did not grant a stay. At 5.00 am this morning, the mosque was demolished. Why was there such a rush? Why not wait for the matter to be heard in the higher courts, where arguments could be presented? This shows that the Yogi-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh did not want the case to reach the higher courts because they knew they were in the wrong. The BJP government and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh are acting unconstitutionally, leading to the demolition of not just one, but several mosques and the destruction of graveyards in the region. We want to ask, does the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, framed by Babasaheb Ambedkar in the Constitution of India, not apply to Muslims?”
