A portion of the Noori Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur was allegedly encroaching upon the Banda-Fatehpur Road. The mosque committee had approached the high court seeking relief.
Part of a nearly 180-year-old mosque in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, was demolished on Tuesday (10-Dec-2024) for allegedly encroaching on the Banda-Fatehpur Road. The district administration stated that Noori Jama Masjid had been notified to remove the encroaching structure. This action occurred while the mosque committee had already approached the Allahabad High Court seeking intervention.
“The committee has submitted a petition in the High Court, but it hasn’t yet been scheduled for a hearing,” explained Avinash Tripathi, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Finance and Revenue, Fatehpur, to The Indian Express. He clarified that the demolished portion was constructed within the last three years, leaving the mosque’s main building untouched.
Tripathi further noted that the Public Works Department (PWD) had issued notices to 139 entities in August, including shopkeepers, homeowners, and the mosque committee, to clear encroachments along the road. The PWD needed to remove these encroachments to start work on strengthening the road and building drainage systems.
“The PWD marked encroached portions of all structures, and everyone complied by removing them in September. The mosque committee also demolished parts of shops next to the mosque that were encroaching. They had assured us they would remove the portion of the mosque too but failed to do so,” ADM Tripathi added.
Members of the mosque committee were unavailable for comment on the situation.
The PWD sought assistance from the district administration to ensure security during the demolition process. According to Tripathi, sufficient police personnel were deployed at the site to maintain peace, and no protests occurred during the operation.
