Madrasa bulldozed in India after accusations of religious conversion
Muslim cleric and his two sons were charged under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law before authorities demolished much of Islamic school
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Authorities in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state have bulldozed a large part of an Islamic school after a Hindu hardline priest accused its head of illegally converting Hindus to Islam, prompting allegations that officials acted under pressure from the cleric.
Officials demolished much of Darul Uloom Rahimiya in Muzaffarnagar district on Sunday, saying an investigation found that the madrasa had been illegally built on village-owned public land, according to The Hindustan Gazette.
The demolition followed a campaign against the madrasa by Hindu priest Swami Yashveer Maharaj, who last month accused its head, Maulana Hifzurrahman Ansari, of involvement in converting Hindu women.
Police subsequently registered a case against Ansari and his two sons, Zubair Ansari and Junaid Ansari, under Uttar Pradesh’s controversial anti-conversion law. Junaid was arrested.
Senior police official Sanjay Verma said authorities had received a complaint alleging that the madrasa was operating illegally and was involved in the conversion of a Hindu woman.
Local administrative officials then launched an investigation into the school’s land and found the construction illegal, he claimed.
“A large part of the madrasa was demolished,” Verma said, adding that police were pursuing stringent charges against those accused.
But lawyers and local critics have questioned both the conversion allegations and whether the madrasa was given adequate opportunity to challenge the demolition.
Muzaffarnagar-based lawyer Shanwaz Ansari said the lawyer representing the madrasa had told him that he had not received the demolition order or a prior notice before authorities moved against the building.
The land dispute had initially been handled as a civil matter. A local administrative official ruled against the madrasa in May, after which its representatives appealed the decision. A subsequent demolition order was issued on Aug. 18.
Ansari also questioned the separate religious-conversion case, saying there was no identified person claiming to have been converted by the madrasa head.
He said the complainant was already involved in a civil dispute with the institution and had publicly acknowledged that he did not visit the madrasa or know the people accused.
Maharaj has previously led campaigns targeting Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2024, he was among those pressing authorities to require food businesses along a major Hindu pilgrimage route to publicly display the names of their owners, a measure widely criticized as potentially enabling the identification and targeting of Muslim-owned establishments.
India’s Supreme Court later halted enforcement of the directive.
The demolition comes amid continuing controversy over the use of bulldozers against properties belonging to Muslims in Uttar Pradesh and other states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
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