Sambhal: A major demolition drive in Sambhal’s Raya Buzurg village left residents shaken as a mosque and a marriage hall, both built on what authorities termed pond land, came under the bulldozer on Thursday. The 30,000 sq ft hall was razed in a four-hour operation beginning at 11:30 am, while villagers themselves began tearing down the adjacent 550 sq ft mosque after officials allowed them four days’ time.
District Magistrate Rajendra Pansiya and SP Krishna Vishnoi supervised the action with 200 police and PAC personnel deployed. Drone surveillance was also used to monitor the situation. The administration claimed the mosque and hall were built illegally a decade ago by a local cleric named Minjar.
For villagers, however, the demolition was devastating. Residents said the marriage hall, constructed through community donations, was where poor families celebrated weddings without cost. “Now where will our children marry?” asked Atahar, adding that grief was so widespread that “no one cooked food in their homes today.” Another villager, Irfan, recalled how the hall was erected after the pond dried up: “It was built with our small contributions. We made it for the community, not for profit.”
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi condemned the action on social media, alleging that bulldozers were being used as a tool of injustice without following Supreme Court guidelines.
Authorities maintain due legal process was followed, with notices served a month earlier.
Yet, for many villagers, the demolition marks not just the loss of a structure but of a space where community life thrived.
