Amid tight security, a portion of the 185-year-old Noori Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district was demolished by local authorities on Tuesday claiming it was illegally constructed two-three years ago and was obstructing the widening of the Banda-Bahraich Highway.

The mosque's management committee chief, however, claimed that the Noori Masjid in Lalauli town was built in 1839 while the road around it came up only in 1956, and said they have already moved the Allahabad High Court which will take up the petition on December 12.

The district administration claimed that the portion demolished was illegal and had come up in the last two-three years, citing satellite and historical images of the mosque's site.

The Public Works Department (PWD) had, in connection with the widening of Banda-Bahraich Highway No. 13, given a notice to remove some parts of the mosque due to their "illegal construction", but the mosque management did not implement it, according to officials.

"About 20 metres of Noori Masjid, which was obstructing the widening of Banda-Bahraich Highway No. 13, was demolished by a bulldozer on Tuesday in the presence of officials and now its debris is being removed," Lalauli police station in-charge Inspector Vrindavan Rai told PTI.

In response to a question, he said, "Law and order remains strong. All shops within a radius of about 200 metres around the mosque have been closed and an area of 300 metres radius has been sealed." Lalauli virtually turned into a police cantonment during the demolition exercise due to heavy deployment of security personnel. The precautionary step comes in the backdrop of incidents of communal tension and opposition to demolition action by authorities in the state.

Rai said police and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in every nook and corner of Lalauli to maintain law and order.

The PWD sent a notice to the Masjid Management Committee on August 17, 2024, to remove some part of the mosque, but it did not implement it, he said.

Mutawalli (chief) of Noori Masjid Management Committee, Mohammad Moin Khan alias Bablu Khan, said his advocate Syed Azimuddin has filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court against demolishing any part of the mosque which will be heard on December 12.

"The Noorie Mosque in Lalauli was built in 1839 and the road here was constructed in 1956, yet the PWD is calling some parts of the mosque illegal," he said.

Additional District Magistrate Avinash Tripathi said notices were issued to 139 entities in August, including the mosque's management, to remove encroachments and other illegal constructions.

"Repair work on the road and construction work for a drain have been proposed along the route because of which encroachments have been removed after serving notice," Tripathi told reporters.

He also stressed that the district administration duly informed the mosque management in the past.

"The management earlier removed shops attached to it. Now removal of a portion became inevitable because it was constructed later. The rest of the mosque has not been demolished. It is evident from satellite and historical images that the construction was done two-three years ago. Only the encroached part has been removed," Tripathi said.

Additional Superintendent of Police P Vijay Shankar Mishra oversaw the security arrangements at the site, where five circle officers, station house officers of 10 police stations, and scores of constables were deployed during the demolition drive.

Meanwhile, in Bareilly, Islamic cleric Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi denounced the action against the "historical" mosque.

"It is recorded in all government records. Declaring Noorie Mosque as illegal and running a bulldozer on it in such a situation is sheer injustice," Barelvi said.

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