A Muslim cleric in Azamgarh, Maulana Yasir Akhtar was arrested on Thursday night for allegedly instigating his community members to display the Palestinian flag atop their houses and vehicles to express solidarity in the wake of Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip. He was booked under Section 505 (2) of IPC.
Commenting on the incident, SP of Azamgarh Sudhir Kumar Singh said: “It came to our notice that Yasir Akhtar of North Churihar hamlet in Saraimir police station area made an appealed to his community members through his Facebook page ‘Azamgarh Express’ to display the Palestinian flag atop their houses and vehicles after offering Friday namaz. An FIR was lodged against him at Saraimir police station and he was arrested by a surveillance cell team. Further legal action against him is being taken against him.”
Meanwhile in Barabanki, days after a controversy broke out over the demolition of a local mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat area, the police lodged a case against eight members of a committee for allegedly using fraudulent means to get the site registered with Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.
Acting on a complaint by the district minority welfare officer, the police registered an FIR against eight people, including the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board inspector. In the complaint, the official alleged that the eight members resorted to fraud and cheating to get the mosque, that was demolished earlier this week, registered as a waqf property. It was further alleged by the official that the accused illegally got a structure in the tehsil premises registered as Waqf property without any report from Revenue department.
Earlier, All-India Muslim Law Board and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board alleged that the Barabanki administration pulled down a mosque illegally and demanded a judicial probe into it.
“The century-old Garib Nawaz mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil was demolished by the district administration without giving any notice to the managing committee illegally in the presence of police on Monday night. There was no dispute relating to the mosque. It is also listed with Sunni Waqf Board. The SDM of Ram Sanehi Ghat had asked for papers of the mosque from the managing committee in March against which the committee approached the Allahabad High Court,” AIMPLB working general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani said in a statement.
The UP Sunni Central Waqf Board also condemned the incident, terming it as ‘misuse of power. “The mosque near the tehsil premises has been demolished by Ram Sanehi Ghat SDM in the name of removing encroachment. I strongly condemn this illegal and arbitrary action,” Sunni Waqf Board chairman Zufar Farooqui said.
The Barabanki district administered, however, said they demolished the illegal structure on court orders. District Magistrate Adarsh Singh described the construction as illegal. “A notice was served on people concerned on March 15, giving them an opportunity to put forth their views over the ownership but those residing there fled after receiving the notice. The tehsil administration got its possession on March 18,” the DM said in a statement.
Singh further said that the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court had disposed of a petition filed in this connection on April 2, which proved that the construction was illegal. “Later a case was filed in the court of SDM, Ram Sanehi Ghat, and its orders were complied with on May 17,” he said.