New Delhi: It was the sound of bulldozers at Akhunji Masjid, a 13th-century mosque in Mehrauli that lay some 400 metres from the Qutub Minar, that woke up Imam Zakir Hussain at the crack of dawn Tuesday. There were a total of 10 bulldozers, according to Hussain, who has been associated with the mosque for 14 years.
Within hours, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which is responsible for developing commercial land in the national capital, had razed the entire premises — not just the shrine but also the Bahrul Uloom madrassa that was home to 25 children. A graveyard on the premises was also allegedly razed.
The children, most of them orphans, were taken to nearby woods and ordered to remain there in the cold until the drive was over, Hussain said.
“They demolished everything. No notice was served,” Hussain said, as he surveyed the barricades on the road leading to the mosque. “The official confiscated my phone before I could inform others about what was happening.”
The community is feeling uneasy because of the potential for more such actions. At least four mosques across New Delhi, including the Shahi Masjid in Dhaula Kuan, are at risk of being demolished by various authorities such as the DDA and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on the grounds of being unauthorised.
The DDA claims that the Akhunji mosque was an illegal structure that was built on the reserved forest land of Sanjay Van.
The DDA said the mosque stood in the southern part of the Delhi Ridge — an elevated structure that forms part of the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor. The authority said it was simply complying with orders from the Ridge Management Board, a body constituted in 1995 for the protection of the ridge, to clear illegal encroachments.
“The Sanjay Van is a reserved forest spread over an area of 780 acres, which is part of the Southern Ridge. As per the Ridge Management Board, the ridge area should be free from all types of illegal encroachment,” DDA’s statement read, adding that 5,000 sqm of land had been reclaimed in the exercise.
