Indian journalist faces police cases over historic mosque demolition reporting
Criminal case against Pooja Mathur over reporting on Saharanpur mosque demolition deepen concerns over press freedom under Hindu nationalist government
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have reportedly filed criminal cases against journalist Pooja Mathur over her reporting on the demolition of a historic mosque, raising fresh concerns over journalists facing police action for questioning authorities over the destruction of Muslim religious sites.
The cases relate to Mathur’s reporting and social media posts following the Sept. 5 demolition of the Saharanpur Collectorate Mosque, which Muslims say dated to 1911.
Authorities demolished the mosque with bulldozers only three days after a district court rejected its management’s appeal against an eviction order. The court ruling itself did not expressly order demolition of the structure.
In one case, police objected to a Sept. 7 post on an X account bearing Mathur’s name that alleged religious objects, books and clothes belonging to the mosque’s imam were removed along with debris after the demolition. Police described the post as objectionable and registered an FIR.
A separate case was reportedly filed over Mathur’s reporting for YouTube channel Red Chilli Live, with police objecting to both the title and content of her report.
Mathur said she learned about the police action through a newspaper and defended her work as journalism based on what she witnessed at the site and accounts she gathered from local residents.
“Is showing the truth a crime?” she asked.
The cases add a press freedom dimension to an already contentious demolition that has been condemned by Muslim leaders and opposition politicians as another assault on Muslim religious spaces under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh.
The mosque stood inside Saharanpur’s district administrative complex. Its legal troubles began following a complaint by Vikas Tyagi, a former regional leader of Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu organization, who alleged that it occupied government land without authorization.
A local official subsequently ordered its eviction, and a district judge rejected the mosque management’s appeal on Sept. 2.
Mosque representatives disputed the administration’s account and said authorities moved before they had an effective opportunity to approach a higher court.
The mosque was demolished before dawn under heavy security, with bulldozers deployed and access to the administrative complex restricted.
Mathur said criminalizing journalists for documenting such actions could discourage scrutiny of those exercising state power.
“If a journalist has to pay the price for showing the truth and asking questions in the form of an FIR, then who will raise the voice of the common people?” she said.
She said she would continue reporting despite the cases, turning the dispute from one over the demolition of a Muslim place of worship into another test of how much space remains for journalists to question such state actions.
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