‘Waqf Board can’t show documents of land’: Anurag Thakur claims HP’s Sanjauli mosque construction illegal

DHARAMSHALA(Himachal Pradesh): After the Shimla Municipal Court ordered the demotion of the remaining two floors of the Sanjauli mosque, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur claimed on Monday that the structure’s construction was illegal and that the Waqf Board also cannot show documents proving ownership of the land.

“The mindset of the Waqf Board is that they will never show documents. The way a mosque was constructed in Shimla’s Sanjauli was illegal. There were no documents of the land. Even after several months, the documents could not be presented then the order was given that all the floors will be demolished,” Thakur told reporters at the Dharamshala airport.

He further claimed that there are thousands of similar properties across the country where possession had been taken by the Waqf board without proper documents.

“There are several other cases in the country where Waqf has taken possession of the land without documents, and there are madrasas, masjids, or the apartments and houses of people are being taken from them,” the BJP Member of Parliament said.

In a significant development in the ongoing Sanjauli Mosque dispute, a Shimla court on Saturday ordered demolition of the remaining two lower floors of the mosque. This ruling follows a hearing in the Municipal Corporation Commissioner’s Court, where the Waqf Board’s failure to present required documents led to the court’s decision.

The Waqf Board was supposed to submit ownership documents of the mosque land along with architectural plans before the court on Saturday. However, the Waqf Board’s lawyer failed to provide valid documents or present a convincing argument in defence.

The lawyer claimed that the mosque existed at this site before 1947 and that the current structure has replaced the old one.

In response to the claim, the Municipal Corporation Court questioned why the Waqf Board did not seek the necessary permissions, including building plans, from the Corporation if the mosque had been rebuilt after 1947. The court observed that the mosque was constructed in violation of rules.

Earlier on May 3, Advocate Jagat Pal, representing a local resident of Sanjauli, said the court’s decision reflects long-standing concerns about legality.

“Today this mosque has been declared illegal. For 15 years, Waqf Board has never been able to present a single document to prove that the land (the mosque is built on) is legal,” he said.

He added that the court found a clear violation of municipal rules, as he said, “It was declared in the verdict that this is clear violation of MC law. Commissioner reserved this order around 1 PM. This might have relieved the people who faced fake FIRs and water cannons from the police.

Hopefully all the five floors of the mosque will be demolished by the Municipal Corporation employees.” (ANI)