Barabanki mosque demolition: SHO slapped with notice for ordering demolition in defiance of high court directions

New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on issued a notice to SHO of Ram Snehi Ghat, Sachidanand Rai, saying that the demolition of Ghareeb Nawaz Mosque was a violation of an order issued by the court.

The court asked him to answer as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for ordering the demolition of Ghareeb Nawaz Mosque.

The high court says that the sub-divisional magistrate, Ram Snehi Ghat, does not seem to have issued any orders on the demolition, so there was no need to issue a contempt notice to him.

On Friday, a single-judge bench of Justice Ravi Nath Tilhari observed, “From the averments made in the contempt petition as also the submissions advanced, prima facie, it appears that the demolition of the mosque in question on 17.05.2021 by the respondent No. 2-Station House Officer, Ram Snehi Ghat, Tehsil and District Barabanki, as stated, is in violation of the directions No. 4 and 5 of the order dated 22.04.2021 passed in P.I.L. No. 564 of 2020.”

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibbal, who is appearing for the petitioner applicants, told the court that there has been a ‘willful disobedience of the directions passed by the High Court in the case of Re Vs. State of U.P in view of the surge in Covid cases in the state as well as across the country.