New Delhi: This week, a petition was filed in the Delhi high court by Wajeeh Shafiq, standing counsel for the Delhi Waqf Board, requesting urgent consideration as a mosque was reportedly under the threat of illegal demolition.The high court has stayed demolition and the matter will be taken up again at the end of April.The plea alleged that on March 31, the SHO of Basti Nizamuddin Police Station visited the mosque and asked the imam to vacate it, as it was to be demolished and converted into a CRPF canteen, barracks for men and parking for CRPF vehicles. Shafiq told The Wire that this happened despite the fact that a land dispute in this regard was pending adjudication before the Delhi Waqf Tribunal.“That week, the Delhi high court was on leave due to Holi and some other festival, so we had to wait for a few days before filing a petition,” Shafiq told The Wire. The respondents in the case are the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi police, the government of NCT of Delhi and the CRPF.The plea challenged the demolition order of the ancient mosque, Lal Masjid, situated on Delhi’s Lodhi Road. The land in question has been occupied by the Lal Masjid and its graveyard “since time immemorial”, the petition said.The graveyard land was taken over by the authorities in 2017, and since then a dispute in this regard has been pending. However, Shafiq said that due to issues in the tribunal, the dispute was not resolved – one of the defendants passed away and operations in the tribunal have been stalled since December due to two vacancies.The graveyard as well as the mosque are part of the Waqf property, Shafiq said. In 1970, this property was included in the official gazette list of Delhi. “This graveyard and mosque are divided into three khasras (revenue documents) and all the three khasras are included in that 1970 list,” Shafiq said.If somebody wants to challenge this, it has to be done within one year of publication of the gazette and until and unless that list is modified by the court, it will be considered conclusive and final. “Till date no modification has been done in that gazette. We are half a century from the day when this property was included in that gazette, and now this is happening,” Shafiq said.A photograph of the Lal Masjid taken in 2017. Photo: Special arrangementCase in a limboIn 2017, the urban affairs ministry allotted 2.23 acres, out of the total eight acres of this land, for building CRPF barracks, parking and canteens. “When the CRPF started fencing here in July 2017, the Delhi Waqf Board sent a team here and they were shown an allotment letter from February 2017 for the same,” Shafiq said.Two months later, in October, a case was filed before the Waqf tribunal. Shafiq told The Wire, “We sought a declaration that since this is Waqf property, a live graveyard and the law prohibits creation of any kind of third party rights and alienation of Waqf property without our consent, therefore this allotment should be declared void. In that suit, we also filed an application seeking interim protection, so that nothing further be done in furtherance of that allotment.”Also read: Court Revives Dormant Dispute, asks ASI to Survey Gyanvapi Mosque Next to Kashi Vishwanath TempleIn that suit, the defendant no. 4, Habib Ur Rehman, claimed to be the mutawalli of that property, but was never authorised by the Waqf Board, Shafiq said. “The defendants filed their replies in the next few months and thereafter, Rehman died. The law says that if any defendants die, their legal heirs have to be brought on record. Until that time, the suit cannot continue because you cannot act against the dead,” Shafiq said.The case is in limbo since then. Three adjournments later, the details of the legal heir of the defendant were provided finally in 2018. “For one good year, the case couldn’t move forward because the counsel did not supply the details of the late defendant’s legal heir. I moved an application to bring the legal heir on record,” Shafiq said. Thereafter, the Waqf tribunal has been dysfunctional, due to the absence of two non-judicial members.‘CRPF excavated graveyard’“During the pendency of our suit and our application, the CRPF excavated the entire graveyard, destroying the graves. They covered the grave area with corrugated chunks of iron sheets. Nobody can enter or dare to peek inside as they have put their security guards with rifles to guard it,” Shafiq alleged. He said that the status of the remains of the dead bodies is unknown.On April 7, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva had directed for status quo to be maintained on the demolition. He said, “I will give you as much time as you want, but don’t change the status. We will have it tomorrow, but you should not come tomorrow and say, ‘Sorry, we have demolished the building’. I will then haul up your officials (referring to the CRPF, Union of India and Ministry of Home Affairs) for contempt.”The mosque is, for now, untouched. “But it is also unsafe as it is part and parcel of that property,” Shafiq said.Since the whole area is over a hundred years old as per the gazette notification, it should also be protected by the Places of Worship Act, 1991. “But under this Act, one cannot convert one religious place into another. This is not the case here,” he added. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on April 29.