Lucknow, Oct. 4 -- The Allahabad High Court has refused to stay the demolition of a mosque in Sambhal district, dismissing a petition filed by the Muslim side on Saturday. The court advised the petitioners to approach the lower court for relief against the demolition order.

According to the administration, the mosque was built on land classified as a pond. On October 2, officials reached Raya Buzurg village in Asmoli area with bulldozers to demolish the structure along with an adjacent marriage hall, also allegedly built on encroached land.

While the marriage hall was razed, district officials granted locals four days' time to dismantle the mosque themselves. Following this, villagers began tearing down its outer walls on Thursday and Friday.

On Friday, mosque caretaker Minjar Hussain moved an urgent petition before the Allahabad High Court, seeking an immediate halt to the demolition.

The plea was heard for nearly an hour and fifteen minutes. Advocate Arvind Kumar Tripathi, representing the petitioners, argued that the demolition drive was carried out on October 2, a public holiday, leaving them with no option but to move an urgent appeal.

Tripathi told the court that the demolition order itself had not been served to them. "The Supreme Court has held that demolition should always be the last resort, but this principle was ignored in Sambhal's case," he said. On Saturday, after reviewing the demolition order, the court declined to intervene and directed the petitioners to file an appeal in the trial court.

The mosque in question, named Gausulbara, was built about ten years ago on 550 square feet of land. Tehsildar Dhirendra Pratap Singh said that during a district survey of encroachments, both the mosque and the adjoining marriage hall were identified as illegal structures. Notices were issued on September 2, and red markings were placed on the buildings on September 13 before demolition was initiated.

Sambhal MP Ziaur Rahman Barq urged people not to take matters into their own hands. "I appeal to everyone not to touch the mosque or use force. If something wrong is happening, seek legal remedies. Let the police and administration do their work," he said.

On October 2, the administration deployed four bulldozers to the site.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.