Mandi Mosque Row: The Principal Secretary of the Town and Country Planning Department, Devesh Kumar, has quashed the demolition order issued by the Mandi Municipal Commissioner HS Rana on September 13. The next hearing in this case will be held in the court of Principal Secretary TCP.
The decision came on Tuesday after the Municipal Commissioner last month ordered that the illegal portion of the mosque be demolished after massive protests by Hindu organisations took over the town. He had ordered the demolition of two illegal floors of the Mandi mosque. Before this, the mosque had been sealed till the judgement was announced.
The mosque row, which began in Shimla's Sanjauli, spread to Mandi, where hundreds of people gathered last month, demanding the demolition of the illegally constructed mosque on Jail Road.
The land on which the alleged illegal portion of the mosque stood belonged to the Public Works Department and a complaint had also been filed against an unlawful structure at the mosque premises.
The protests triggered unrest in the region as over 600 people staged a protest in the middle of Mandi and began marching towards the mosque. As they tried to breach the barricades that were placed on the route towards the mosque, police dispersed tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse the agitators.
Protests were underway even as Mandi Municipal Corporation Commissioner HS Rana's court ordered that the status quo related to the original structure of the mosque site be maintained, but the illegal portion be demolished within a time of 30 days. The court had said that if the mosque representatives did not demolish the illegal structure themselves, then it would be done by the administration. Rana also highlighted that the construction was found to be illegal as it was not approved, and no map was passed for it.
Following this, a few members of the mosque committee and the Muslim community demolished a particular structure which was reportedly on PWD land. A member said that the decision was taken voluntarily and a wall was demolished as it was on PWD land.