Maharashtra: Collector bans entry to mosque in Jalgaon

A trust managing a mosque in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district has moved the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court against the collector’s order banning entry into the premises following a complaint claiming the structure has an appearance of a temple.

The trust’s advocate, S S Kazi, said the petition would be taken up for hearing on July 18. The petition, filed by the Jumma Masjid Trust Committee through its president Altaf Khan, claimed the collector passed the arbitrary and illegal order on July 11, 2023, directing them to hand over keys of the mosque to the Erandol municipal council’s chief officer.

The order was passed under Sections 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as per which status quo shall be maintained pending final decision on the dispute of the land. As per the plea, the mosque has been in existence since decades and the Maharashtra government had declared the structure of masjid as an ancient and historical monument, and is enlisted in the Schedule of protected monuments.

The petitioner stated the trust has been taking utmost care and there is no complaint received in that regard by the Archeological Department, or even the state government. In May this year, the Pandavwada Sangharsh Sameti in order to create disturbance in Jalgaon’s Erandol taluka, submitted an application to the district collector claiming the ancient monument is having the appearance of a mandir and therefore the occupation of the Muslim community must be vacated, the plea said.

The learned Collector was not in a mood to hear anything from the petitioner thereafter and without giving any opportunity to the petitioner on 11.07.2023, the Collector, Jalgaon, passed an order under Sections 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the plea said.