"There is very little government land in this village; so it was necessary to clear the encroached-on gram sabha land on which the mosque stood. Dhirendra Singh, a tehsildar, said: "We have also imposed a ₹8.78-lakh fine on the encroachers (mosque management committee)." Hazi Shamim, the caretaker of the mosque, said: "We knocked down the front wall of the mosque because the administration had convinced us that it stood on public land. The Sambhal administration says it has a list of many more "illegal buildings" that it plans to demolish. Tehsildar Singh said the authorities had received the first complaint against the Hazipur mosque in June 2018 but couldn’t act because of "other engagements".

Source: The Telegraph January 05, 2026 12:31 UTC