• Source:JND
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A MOSQUE was among eight places of worship demolished on Saturday amid heavy security under the Smart City project in Gujarat’s Dahod. The massive demolition drive began at Nagina Mosque around 4:30 pm amid huge police deployment.

Officials said the mosque was demolished under the Smart City road widening project after the Masjid Trust failed to get relief from the Gujarat High Court and failed to produce land record documents by the designated time. Hours after the demolition of the mosque, four temples and three other dargahs were also razed, as reported by the Indian Express.

As many as two bulldozers demolished the Nagina Masjid which was located across the Bhagini Samaj on Station Road at around 4:30 am. The officials said that the demolition drive took place ‘ in a peaceful and amicable’ situation.

In addition to the 450 police officers deployed as part of security, the Dahod Prant officer, the chief officer of Dahod Municipality, two deputy superintendents of police, 20 senior police officials and members from the State Reserve Police Force unit were also present to monitor the demolition.

While speaking to Indian Express on Saturday, the Dahod Superintendent of Police (SP) Balram Meena said, “The masjid trust had sought time on their own until Friday to produce relevant records of the land. The administration conceded to their request but on Friday the records they brought were not reliable.”

“On Friday evening, a meeting was held between the members of the masjid with the sub-divisional magistrate, Prant Officer, chief officer of municipality and the DySP, where the members of the Trust agreed to evacuate the premises on being given the option to demolish the structure on their own,” Meena further added.

The administration also said that they did not need to enter the mosque because it had already been vacated and the deployment will continue but they do not anticipate any problems because community members haven't raised any objections.

While, the Trust in their petition before the Gujarat High Court said that notices under the Gujarat Municipalities Act were issued to nearby shops for alleged encroachment, and these were demolished on May 15. However, the authorities started razing more shops under the ownership of the petitioner Trust ‘without any notice’.

“We were informed by the administration on Monday the documents will have to be produced by Friday otherwise the demolition will be done after the Jumma prayers. The High Court too did not grant us relief. So on Friday afternoon, we were told to remove our belongings. When the authorities had razed six feet of the compound earlier this week, we had already removed some of our important belongings,” a member of the mosque committee told Indian Express.