A demolition drive was carried out in Delhi’s Shailmar Bagh area with a heavy police presence, razing down the Medina Mosque and some houses on the road in the wee hours of Septemeber 23.The demolition was carried out as part of a road widening drive. Officials stated that the notices had been given before the demolition as part of the project. The imam of the mosque also said that the notice was served; however, he has condemned the manner and time it was razed down.
“I am saying, if this is illegal, then demolish it. But what was the need to demolish it at night?” Social activist Mufti Mujeeb ur Rahmaan, who had spent a significant portion of his life near the masjid, said while talking to FoEJ Media.
“Has our judiciary become so weak that a mosque has to be demolished under the cover of darkness, with the lights switched off? he added.
“Two buildings have been demolished so far, and we have been told that the remaining one will be demolished by December,” he said.
“I was going to have tea when I saw 12 to 15 bulldozers arriving. After having my tea, I came back and saw that the mosque was being demolished,” an eyewitness whose house was demolished in May told FoEJ Media.
“We have lost everything. We want compensation. Our house was demolished, and we have been living in rented accommodation ever since,” he added.
“We are not in a state to speak right now. Our home is gone, and nothing is left,” another eyewitness said.
“We have been left on the road,” he added.
Masjid demolition comes following a previous demolition action that had also been carried out along the same road for a road widening project. A similar demolition action was carried out in the area during May and June, where around 150 houses were demolished.
After receiving information about the demolition of the mosque, AIMIM Delhi Pradesh president Shoeb Jamai reached the spot.
Reacting to the demolition, Jamai alleged that carrying out the action in the middle of the night was unconstitutional. Referring to an earlier mosque demolition in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, he said Shalimar Bagh would not be allowed to become “Saharanpur Part 2.”
Jamai also alleged that the mosque’s imam was not given enough time to remove documents and copies of the Quran kept inside the mosque before the demolition. He said the religious texts and other materials were reduced to rubble during the action and strongly condemned the demolition.
In a post on X, Jamai said, “Acting on the instructions of party president Asaduddin Owaisi, the AIMIM Delhi team rushed to the Shalimar Bagh area late at night upon receiving information that a bulldozer was being used against a mosque. At whose behest is the police administration preventing us from meeting the mosque’s Imam?”
