Mosque Demolition In UP's Barabanki Irks Political Slugfest; SP, Congress Demand Judicial Probe

Earlier in the day, a Samajwadi Party delegation met Barabanki District Magistrate Adarsh Singh and handed over a memorandum addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel in this regard.

(Image: Twitter)

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and Congress have condemned the demolition of mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki and demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

Earlier in the day, a Samajwadi Party delegation met Barabanki District Magistrate Adarsh Singh and handed over a memorandum addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel in this regard.

The delegation also demanded registering of a case against the officials responsible for the demolition.

“On the instructions of party national president, a Samajwadi Party delegation met the Barabanki District Magistrate and strongly condemned the unauthorised demolition of the 100-year-old mosque located in Sumerganj and handed over a memorandum addressed to the Governor while demanding action against the SDM who acted in hostility,” the Samajwadi Party wrote on its official Twitter handle in Hindi.

This comes amid a row over the mosque demolition with the All-India Muslim Law Board (AIMPLB) and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board demanding a judicial probe while the authorities stating the mosque was demolished on the court’s orders.

AIMPLB working general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani in a statement earlier said “the century-old Garib Nawaz mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil was demolished by the administration without any legal justification on Monday night in the presence of police”.

Asserting that the mosque was pulled down by the administration without any notice, he added: “There was no dispute relating to the mosque. It is also listed with the Sunni Waqf Board. The SDM (Sub Divisional Magistrate) of Ram Sanehi Ghat had asked for papers of the mosque from the mosque committee in March against which the mosque management committee had approached the Allahabad High Court.”