The Allahabad High Court has stayed any punitive motion towards eight folks accused of resorting to fraud and fraud to register the mosque demolished by the Barabanki district administration as Waqf property two weeks in the past.
The district administration on May 17 demolished the mosque in Bani Kada village of Ramsnehi Ghat tehsil, claiming it was an “illegal structure”.
It was regionally often called Garib Nawaz Masjid. A day after the demolition, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board issued an announcement calling the motion unlawful and in violation of the Allahabad High Court directive.
Giving time to the State to file the affidavit, a bench of Justices Atau Rehman Masoodi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava-I on May 28 ordered that until the police file a report beneath Section 173(2) CrPC, the petitioners Will not be subjected to any punitive measures. .
Eight accused have been named within the FIR lodged on May 20 primarily based on a grievance by District Minority Welfare Office Sonu Kumar, who alleged that “fraudulent registration” was executed in 2019.
The accused are the chairman of the Masjid Committee, Mushtaq Ali, vice-chairman advocate Ahmed, secretary Mohammad Aneesh, members Dastagir, Afzal, Mohammad Naseem and the then UP Sunni Central Waqf Board inspector Mohammad Taha.
In a writ petition difficult the FIR, Mushtaq Ali and different accused mentioned it “does not specifically mention any public document which has been either forged or tampered with by the petitioners in any manner”. The petitioners said that “the contents of the FIR are thus false and unfounded”.
His lawyer Aftab Ahmed mentioned that the “alleged mosque” was a waqf property whose rights have been protected beneath a judicial order of the Allahabad High Court.
The Additional Advocate General, arguing on behalf of the State, opposed the sustainability of the writ petition, however couldn’t make clear “what documents were specifically forged by the petitioners”. The lawyer mentioned that the investigation remains to be pending and sought time from the courtroom.
The bench requested the general public prosecutor to file a counter-affidavit inside three weeks. The judges additionally directed the petitioners to cooperate within the investigation and didn’t ask them to keep away from their presence when summoned.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
