Shimla Municipal Court Orders Complete Demolition of Sanjauli Mosque for Unauthorized Construction

Shimla (The Uttam Hindu): The Municipal Court has given its final and tough verdict regarding the construction of a mosque located in Sanjauli area of ​​Himachal Pradesh's capital Shimla. The court has declared the entire construction of the mosque illegal and has issued an order to demolish it completely. This verdict was given by the court of Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Atri on Saturday after the hearing.

The decision came after the Waqf Board could not produce any solid and valid documents relating to the ownership of the mosque land or the construction, such as the approved map or the municipal corporation's approval, in court. Earlier, the municipal court had declared the upper three floors of the mosque illegal and ordered them to be demolished within two months on 5 October 2024. However, the mosque committee failed to comply with the order within this deadline. The committee later sought two more times, but the work on one floor and pillar is still said to be incomplete.

In the hearing held on Saturday, the Municipal Court also considered the remaining lower two floors of the mosque as illegal construction and ordered their demolition as well. During the hearing, the lawyer of the Waqf Board argued that the mosque existed before 1947 and this is only a reconstruction. On this, the court raised the question that if it already existed, then why was permission not taken from the Municipal Corporation for new construction?

After a debate that lasted for about an hour and a half, the court reserved its decision and after one o'clock in the afternoon, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bhupinder Atri, while giving the verdict, clearly said that the entire mosque was constructed by flouting the rules and it is completely illegal, hence it should be demolished.

It is worth noting that this matter of Sanjauli Mosque came into the limelight when there was a clash between two communities in Malyana area of ​​​​Shimla on 29 August 2024. After this, on September 1, there was a situation of tension outside Sanjauli Mosque and the issue of illegal construction was raised prominently. On September 11, 2024, Hindu organizations protested against the construction of the mosque, during which there was an incident of breaking barricades and police lathicharge. It was only after these incidents that the Municipal Corporation Court took the matter seriously and started investigation and hearing, the final decision of which has now come.