By Mayank Kumar
Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh: Three large tarpaulin sheets flutter with each passing breeze, exposing the demolished section of the Noori Jama Masjid. Rubble lies scattered on the ground at the site. But the faithfuls come nonetheless at the mosque in the evening, as the clock on the wall shows 4.55 p.m.
While the tarpaulin sheets conceal the extent of demolition and create a semblance of normalcy, the presence of a sizeable number of police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel and the helplessness among the local Muslim community are not lost on visitors.
A day after the portion of the mosque lay demolished in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalauli village, the Noori Jama Masjid management committee claims that the torn down section, which is about 150 square meter of land, was used to offer prayers, whereas the Fatehpur district administration reiterates that it was “newly constructed” on government land.
The demolition has cleared approximately 14-15 ft width of the outer hall of the mosque, officials aware of the matter said. But, the committee has claimed that the land on which the mosque stands, has been donated to it and that it is the bhumidhari land.
This story was originally published in theprint.in. Read the full story here.
