700-year old mosque in Delhi's Mehrauli demolished
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Nw Delhi: In a surprise dawn operation early on Tuesday, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) razed a 700-year-old mosque in the Mehrauli neighbourhood of South Delhi. The historic Akhoondji Masjid and adjoining Behrul Uloom madrasa were demolished and the ground cleared of all debris in an operation that gave signs of a well thought-out plan by the authorities giving no room for intervention by court or resistance by locals.
The mosque is a historic monument and is believed to have been built during Razia Sultana's reign. The graveyard of the mosque is said to have the graves of revered religious figures.
According to the imam of the mosque, the demolition was surreptitiously carried out before sunrise on Tuesday without any prior notice. Pieces of debris were meticulously removed to conceal the demolition from the public eye, news portals quoted him as saying.
The Imam claimed that DDA officials, accompanied by a substantial police presence, not only demolished the mosque but took by force the mobiles phones of people present at the site in order to pre-empt any documentation of the incident.
The imam further charged that officials denied access to copies of the Holy Qur’an and vandalised the belongings of 22 students studying at the madrassa.
The reckless bull-dozing comes months after several other properties of Muslims had come under the same fate, but the bull-dozing comes in contradiction with the assurance given by DDA to the Delhi High Court promising not to demolish any mosque, graveyard, or legally owned Waqf property in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
Locals and community leaders are reportedly agitated over the action and demand a thorough probe into the circumstances, and are anxious about the ruthless actions by government bodies without regard for any norms of rule of law. In the case of the Mehrauli masjid, not serving notice itself is seen as a grave violation of law, perceived as a means of circumventing legal intervention.
The operation incidentally fits in the with the opposition of Hindutva outfits against keeping Muslim symbols in Delhi and as part of efforts to mobilise Hindu votes particularly in the tempo created by the Ram Temple consecration.
