Shimla mosque row: Muslim body to challenge MC court’s demolition order
The mosque committee, which had previously offered to demolish the unauthorised portion of the mosque, has reiterated its original stance.
Days after the Shimla municipal commissioner (MC) court ordered the demolition of the top three unauthorised floors of Sanjauli Mosque in Shimla, a local Muslim body has announced plans to challenge the order.

The All Himachal Muslim’s Organisation (AHMO) during its recent meeting has decided to challenge the order in the court of appellate authority. However, the mosque committee, which had previously offered to demolish the unauthorised portion of the mosque, has reiterated its original stance.
On Saturday, the Shimla MC court ordered the demolition of the top three unauthorised floors of Sanjauli mosque and gave a two-month deadline to the mosque committee to execute its orders. The court also ordered that the mosque committee and the Waqf Board will bear the cost of the demolition of the unauthorised portion.
In a statement, AHMO said a meeting was held in Shimla to discuss the current situation in the state. The organisation specifically reviewed the October 5 decision made by the MC court regarding the mosque and believed that the decision given by was contrary to the facts.
“The land on which the mosque stands belongs to the Himachal Pradesh Waqf Board, and the mosque has been recorded in the revenue records for approximately 125 years. The recent construction by the Sanjauli Mosque Trust was done on top of the existing mosque, which is completely legal. Regarding the approval of the second-floor construction plans, an application was submitted before the work commenced, but it remained pending in the Commissioner’s office,” said AHMO state spokesperson Nazakat Ali Hashmi in a statement.
He said the Shimla MC Commissioner’s court, overlooking the application and relying solely on the personal opinions of a few individuals, decided to demolish the upper floors of the mosque, despite these individuals lacking the authority to take such action.
Mosque committee reiterates its stand
However, mosque committee chairperson Mohammed Latif, said, “They are an independent body and we cannot stop them but we stand by what we had announced earlier.”
Following a massive protest in Shimla on September 11 demanding the demolition of an unauthorised portion of the mosque, the mosque committee had given an undertaking to the MC commissioner offering to demolish the unauthorised portion of the mosque themselves.
While the case of unauthorised floors of the mosque was in MC court for more than a decade, the recent protest against it arose after Hindu organisations demanded its demolition following a stray incident of assault of a Hindu businessman in Malyana near Sanjauli in Shimla.
On September 11, at least 10 persons, including six police personnel and four protestors, were injured after the police resorted to baton charges and used water cannons after the agitators broke the barricades and reached the vicinity of the mosque in Shimla’s Sanjauli. Afterwards, the protests were held in other parts of the state as well.