In the town of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, there was violence during what the police describe as a “anti-encroachment drive”.
According to the authorities, the drive was started to remove unauthorized buildings, such as the mosque and the nearby madrassa (religious school).
However, Muslims who attended the mosque to pray claim they have been unfairly singled out.
The skirmishes that started on Thursday night resulted in hundreds of injuries for both police officers and demonstrators.
Videos showed demonstrators throwing stones and setting cars on fire while the police attacked them with tear gas.
To get things under control, the state has given “shoot at sight” orders in addition to imposing a curfew.
The event happened in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura neighbourhood. In January of last year, the district saw large-scale protests in response to the serving of eviction notices to over 50,000 individuals, the most of whom were Muslims, on the grounds that they were residing on Indian Railways land unlawfully. The Indian Supreme Court later decided to halt the demolitions.
The most recent effort, according to officials, was motivated by a high court judgment requesting that the area’s unlawful settlements be removed.
The madrassa and the mosque were razed, according to District Magistrate Vandana Singh, since they were not recognized as religious buildings and were constructed unlawfully on government property.
“There was no specific community in mind for the drive. It started out quietly but soon after a mob attacked officials, there was violence,” Ms. Singh stated. She further mentioned that authorities had previously informed the mosque’s management that the mosque will be demolished.
Locals dispute this, claiming that the mosque was destroyed before the court could render a verdict on the matter.
“We requested that the government cease their demolition of the structures until the following court date when they arrived. However, they paid no attention. Had they awaited the court’s ultimate ruling, there would have been no
local councilman Shakeel Ahmad told the Indian Express newspaper that there was “opposition [from us].”
The last several months have seen an increase in tensions about mosque demolitions.
