Bareilly: A mosque in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district was demolished on Saturday, February 7, on the orders of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) court, even as the mosque committee raised strong objections saying that the matter was pending in the Allahabad High Court.
According to Maktoob Media, an official revenue document from the Bhojipura tehsil administration shows that the mosque in Pipariya village existed on a 300-square-yard land as early as 1968.
The document, stamped by the Office of the Tehsildar, Bhojipura, shows the land as “gram samaj ki zameen abadi ke waaste,” translating to “for the use of the village population.”
The demolition drive on Saturday continued for nearly three hours, with videos of the incident circulating online showing two bulldozers deployed to raze the mosque.
The debris was cleared out after the structure was demolished, with heavy police presence at the site. Additional security arrangements were made to prevent the escalation of law and order. The district administration reportedly took ownership of the land following the demolition drive.
Differing claims by SDM and mosque caretaker
Speaking to reporters during the demolition, Bareilly SDM Sadar Pramod Kumar said an “unauthorised structure was built on government land.”
The land had been encroached upon through illegal construction, he said, adding that the administration acted at the behest of a civil court order and demolished the illegal structure with the help of bulldozers, freeing the government property of encroachment.
SDM Kumar said the action came following an 18-year-long legal battle and eviction proceedings.
Initially, a tehsildar court had declared the construction illegal and passed an eviction order. This decision was challenged in the civil court, which too refused to grant any relief to the appellants and dismissed the case.
However, the mosque manager, Mohammed Iqbal, alleged that the matter is still under consideration before the Allahabad High Court, with the next hearing also scheduled.
“Despite the case being sub judice (under judicial consideration, prohibited from public discussion), the administration went ahead and demolished the mosque before the scheduled hearing,” Iqbal alleged.
The mosque, according to Iqbal, served as a staple place of worship for the Muslim population in Pipariya village, which he claims is also proved in the official document.
It serves as an integral part of the village’s social and religious life, Iqbal said.
“The land was given for the construction of the mosque by the then Gram Pradhan to the Muslim community,” he told Maktoob Media.
“With the mosque demolished, we now face serious difficulties in performing daily prayers and congregational worship,” he added.
Residents allege demolition conducted without notice
The Allahabad High Court’s official case status records also show that the matter continues to be pending, with several applications seeking interim orders, with one as recent as January 2026. The official case status also reveals that the original lawsuit goes back to 1996, with a judgment delivered in 2014, with a second appeal filed in 2022.
Moreover, an order passed by Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava states the disposal of a listing application, but does not log a final decision on the matter.
The village residents claimed that the official documents directly oppose the administration’s claims that the mosque was “illegally built on government land.”
Mohammad Umar, a resident of Pipariya village, said the Masjid-e-Ala Hazrat is about 50 years old. “It was demolished without any prior notice,” he alleged.
Advocate Sagheer Ahmed, representing the mosque before the Allahabad High Court, said, “As per official documents, the land was given to the Muslim community in 1969 by the then pradhan, Narendra Pradhan. A lawsuit was allowed by the court in 1969 permitting the construction of a mosque.”
“This was before 1973, when the SDM, DM (District Magistrate) or other authorities were vested with powers to transfer land. Since the land was given before that, it has belonged to the community since then,” he said, adding that no state authority can intervene in land-related cases from before 1973.
He further said that after the court permitted the mosque’s construction, a group strongly objected. However, their petition challenging the decision was dismissed. When the group filed another petition in the same year, the court ordered close monitoring from authorities at the site.
In 2022, the mosque faced similar obstacles as it initiated the construction of a pakka mosque. “This time, they falsely claimed that the mosque was built on illegal land,” Ahmad said. “The SDM, without issuing any prior notice, checked the so-called legalities and ran a bulldozer over the mosque, reducing it to rubble.”
The lawyer clearly refuted the SDM’s claims, saying the matter is still pending and hence possession remains a matter of judicial consideration.
“We will file a contempt of court petition against those who cited the High Court to carry out the demolition without due process, and we will seek compensation for the losses incurred by the mosque committee,” advocate Ahmed said.
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