‘I love Muhammad’ posters: Case filed against 8 after mosque razed in Sambhal
Sambhal police registered a case against eight individuals after 49 posters with "I Love Muhammad" and a green flag resembling Pakistan’s flag were found inside the Mustafa Qadri mosque during its demolition.
Sambhal: A case has been registered against eight individuals after discovering 49 posters bearing the “I Love Muhammad” slogan and a flag resembling the Pakistani flag inside the Mustafa Qadri mosque during its demolition in Sambhal district, police said on Sunday.
The mosque was razed to ground after being identified as an illegal structure built on graveyard land, they said.
Meanwhile, local Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Ziaur Rahman Barq told reporters, “Posters reading ‘I Love Muhammad’ and a green flag were found in the Kaserau mosque. I, too, possess such posters and could keep a green flag. What kind of case would they register against me for that?”
The MP termed the demolition “illegal” and said he would be approaching the court.
Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Kuldeep Singh said that during the removal of the illegal mosque under the Nakhasa police station area on Saturday, 49 posters with “I Love Muhammad” written on them and a green flag, resembling the Pakistani flag, were recovered from inside the structure.
He added that the police have registered a case against eight people, including ‘mutawalli’ (caretaker) Zakir, under section 353 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the BNS and have initiated an investigation.
The administration claims the mosque was illegally constructed on land designated for a graveyard.
Barq expressed strong objection to the action while speaking to reporters at his residence.
He claimed the mosque is approximately 150 years old and has been registered as Waqf property in the Uttar Pradesh Gazette since 1995, listed at number 1951.
Expressing displeasure over the case registered against the eight individuals, the MP further questioned which section of law was violated by keeping a green flag or saying “I Love Muhammad”.
“Under what provisions will a case be registered? If I love my Allah and my Prophet within the fold of my faith, which section of the law applies to that? Please tell me. On what grounds will you register a case? The police administration’s responsibility is to ensure a society free from fear, not one filled with fear. What are you trying to say?” he said.
Meanwhile, the district administration said the demolition followed eviction orders passed by revenue courts.
Authorities claimed that the mosque had been constructed on around 1,200 square metres of cemetery land.
District Magistrate Ankit Khandelwal said the mosque committee’s appeal against the tehsildar court’s eviction order was rejected after it failed to produce evidence supporting its claim over the land.
SP Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said the demolition was carried out after the completion of the legal process and under heavy police deployment.
