Maharashtra : Collector sealed Jumma Masjid in Jalgoan, bans entry to disputed site under section 144 CoCP; trust moves HC

The Jalgaon district administration has issued an interim order restraining people from offering prayers at a mosque amid claims and counterclaims over its existence and sealed the century-old disputed mosque temporarily. In the letter, the administration asked the trustees to hand over the keys to the mosque to district authorities.

 

 

The collector issued order under section 144, immediately banning prayers on the premises. In the order, the collector also directed police deployment in the area.  

 

The order, however, allowed two persons to pray there daily to ensure that the sanctity of the mosque was maintained until the final order was passed. The District Collector Mittal said, “While the keys of the mosque have now been collected by the tehsildar, the two persons who want to offer their prayers can collect the keys from the government-authorised personnel present there.”

 

 

This comes after the Hindu organization Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti complained that the structure located in the Erandol region in the Jalgaon district resembles an old temple and that the Muslim community, the Jumma Masjid Trust Committee has encroached over the temple land. This petition of Dandawate is said to have garnered support from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS).

 

Prasad Madhusudan Dantwate, president of the Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti, which was set up to reclaim the structure, submitted the application, demanding that the “illegal construction” of the mosque be removed since the ancient monument resembled a temple.

 

The Pandav wada sites in the Erandol region of Jalgaon district, are under Islamic encroachments. It is believed that the Pandavas spent their years in exile in Erandol region and that the Hindu and Jain temple-like structures built here are 800-1000 years old. Later due to the severe indifference among Hindus, Muslims slowly started encroaching on Pandav Wada more than 125 years ago, and they eventually built a mosque there while claiming it to be Wakf property.

 

Hindu groups like the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti have been battling to reclaim Pandavwada from the Wakf Board’s intrusions and restore the areas. The contested mosque has records of existence of at least 100 years, whereas the principal buildings in Pandava wada (built in the style of Jain and Hindu temples) are reportedly 800-1000 years old.

 

Soon after the collector's order a trust managing a mosque in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district moved the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court against the collector’s order. The trust’s advocate, S S Kazi, said the petition would be taken up for hearing on July 18. The mosque committee continues to hold that the collector’s order to seal the mosque is ‘illegal’ as the mosque stands on a registered waqf property. “It’s only the Waqf tribunal that takes decisions with regard to Waqf properties. The collector has bypassed the waqf tribunal,” the committee says.