Sambhal: Eight people have been booked after police allegedly recovered 49 A4-sized posters bearing the slogan “I Love Muhammad” and a green flag “resembling the Pakistani national flag” during the demolition of an allegedly illegal portion of the Mustafa Qadri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.
Police have launched an investigation, while the action has drawn objections from Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq.
The district administration has been carrying out an anti-encroachment drive in the Nakhasa police station area over the past two days.
According to officials, the posters were found beneath a mattress placed on a wooden platform inside the mosque’s top-floor prayer hall. The flag was recovered from the same location. Police said the flag appeared similar to Pakistan’s national flag.
FIR Against Eight People
Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Kuldeep Singh said a case has been registered against eight named individuals, including the mosque’s mutawalli (caretaker), after the recovery.
Those named in the First Information Report (FIR) include Zakir, Zakir Hussain, Tasleem, Bhure Ali, Sarfuddin, Dilsharif and Mohammad Ali, along with the mosque caretaker. Police said all recovered material has been seized and sealed as part of the investigation.
ASP Kuldeep added that the case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and further legal action is underway.
The district administration maintains that the mosque was constructed on nearly 1,200 sq m of land earmarked as a graveyard. Officials said the demolition was carried out after revenue court orders and the completion of legal proceedings.
District Magistrate Ankit Khandelwal said the mosque committee’s appeal against the eviction order was rejected after it failed to provide evidence supporting its claim over the land.
Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said the demolition was conducted under heavy police deployment.
SP MP Questions FIR
Meanwhile, SP MP Barq criticised both the demolition and the police case. “Posters reading ‘I Love Muhammad’ and a green flag were found in the Kaserau mosque. I, too, possess such posters and could keep a green flag. What kind of case would they register against me for that?” he told reporters.
Calling the demolition illegal, Barq claimed the mosque was around 150 years old and had been notified as Waqf property in the Uttar Pradesh Gazette since 1995.
Questioning the FIR, he said, “Under what provisions will a case be registered? If I love my Allah and my Prophet within the fold of my faith, which section of the law applies to that? Please tell me. On what grounds will you register a case?”
Police said they are examining the origin of the recovered material and investigating all aspects of the case. The FIR states that the recovery raised concerns about potential attempts to disturb communal harmony.
As a precaution, additional police personnel and Pradeshik Armed Constabulary (PAC) teams have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
