HC to hear affected parties of Dahod demolition drive today

While Nagina Masjid was among the eight places of worship razed at 4:30 am on May 20 by the Dahod Smart City administration, the Masjid of Anjumane Mohammadi Jamat has not been demolished yet. According to the petitioners’ submissions, both are Waqf properties.

Advocate Kruti Shah, on behalf of the Masjid of Anjumane Mohammadi Jamat, informed the court that the masjid had responded to a notice for the removal of the structure for widening a road in 2019. Shah submitted that the authorities were supposed to decide on the objections raised by the masjid in response to the government authorities’ notice and pass an order to that effect but the same has not been done till date.

Shah added that 700 properties have been demolished in Dahod city with some issued notices under the provision of the Gujarat Municipalities Act. However, some properties, such as Nagina Masjid, were not issued any such notice.

The masjid trust moved a petition last week fearing demolition but the same was not permitted for urgent circulation before the vacation bench. In their plea before the Gujarat High Court, the trust had pointed out that notices under the Gujarat Municipalities Act were issued to nearby shops over alleged encroachment. These shops were demolished on May 15.

However, the authorities also started demolishing other shops that were under the ownership of the petitioner trust “without any notice”. According to the Trust, they were only informally told by the authorities that “the petitioner and others may remove all the religious books, Quran and other revered articles from the Masjid till Friday as the Masjid will be demolished after evening prayers”.