Plea in Supreme Court Challenges Demolition of 200-Year-Old Takiya Masjid in Ujjain
Petitioners allege the mosque was illegally razed for temple parking expansion, violating multiple laws and Waqf protections.
Thirteen residents of Ujjain, who regularly offered prayers at the 200-year-old Takiya Masjid, have filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision that upheld the mosque’s demolition.
According to a report by Bar & Bench, the petitioners have alleged that the state government demolished the mosque in January to expand the parking area of the adjoining Mahakal Temple, calling the move “illegal and arbitrary.”
The petition states that the mosque was a duly notified Waqf property since 1985 and had continued to function as a place of worship until its demolition. It argues that the action violated several key laws, including the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act, 1995 (now replaced by the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 2025), and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The plea further accuses the state of serious irregularities in the land acquisition process, claiming that compensation was wrongfully granted to unauthorised occupants and encroachers to fabricate a legal basis for the demolition.
The petitioners had earlier approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking restoration of the mosque, but their plea was dismissed first by a single-judge bench, and later by a division bench.
They have now moved the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the High Court’s ruling. As interim relief, the petitioners have requested the apex court to stay the operation of the High Court’s orders, restrain the state government from carrying out any further construction or alterations at the site, and order an independent inquiry into the demolition.
