New Delhi, January 15: An Indian housing development authority has demolished a mosque on its land in the capital, sparking clashes with police that left at least 15 protesters injured.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) razed the Noor mosque located in the Jangpura area of the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Thursday after it claimed that the mosque, which had stood there for more than 200 years, was built in an encroachment area of a DDA plot, the media reported on Saturday.
The demolition unleashed a wave of protests during which at least 15 people were injured and damages were inflicted on several private vehicles in the area.
The melee broke out after Indian police fired tear gas on angry residents, many of whom refuted the DDA officials’ claim regarding the “illegality” of the holy structure, asserting that the mosque stood on Wakf land in the Maharashtra area in New Delhi.
“The structure was on Wakf property and has been there for more than 200 years,” said Shoaib Iqbal of the Lok Janshakti Party.
Protestors marched to the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station to say their prayers since the mosque was out of bounds, but the police met the protesters with force.
On Saturday, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit blamed the DDA for behaving in “an unfair way” by razing the holy structure.
–Agencies