Muslim shrines bulldozed in India’s Uttar Pradesh
Authorities demolish centuries-old Islamic sites in wildlife sanctuary, ignoring waqf registration and public outcry over rising religious repression
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — In yet another operation targeting Islamic heritage in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities demolished four Muslim shrines in the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, labelling them “illegal encroachments” despite documents of property registration.
The shrines—Dargah Hazrat Sayyed Mohammad Hashim Ali Shah (popularly known as Lakkad Shah Baba), Bhavar Shah, Chaman Shah, and Shahenshah—were razed by the state forest department in coordination with local police and the Bahraich district administration.
The action took place under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which officials cited to justify the demolition of what they described as “unauthorized religious structures on forest land.”
This demolition is part of a broader trend under Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu supremacist leader known for his Islamophobic rhetoric and policies.
Since taking office in 2017, Adityanath’s administration has repeatedly invoked development, law enforcement, or environmental regulations to justify the demolition of Muslim homes, shrines, and madrasas—moves legal experts say are aimed at erasing Islamic presence from public life.
Local media reported that the Dargah of Lakkad Shah Baba, believed to date back centuries, had long hosted annual fair gatherings attended by both Muslims and Hindus.
The forest department had recently denied permission for this year’s fair, triggering objections from the shrine’s management committee. Despite presenting waqf registration documents from 1986, authorities refused to recognize the shrine’s legal standing.
A massive security operation accompanied the demolitions, with Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel, forest rangers, and district police sealing off the area. Bulldozers flattened the shrines under armed supervision. Media access was restricted on the grounds that the area was a “jungle zone” prone to human-wildlife conflict—an explanation widely seen as a cover to suppress documentation and public scrutiny.
Divisional Forest Officer B Shivshanker acknowledged the shrine committee had taken the matter to the high court, but claimed no relief was granted. He also stated that the Central government’s approval for non-forestry use was never obtained—an argument shrine caretakers reject, pointing to decades of government-sanctioned fairs and forest department auctions that recognized the site’s legitimacy.
District Magistrate Monika Rani and the Superintendent of Police attended the press briefing defending the demolitions, emphasizing legal process and forest protection. Yet for local Muslims, the episode represents something deeper: the erasure of spiritual spaces and shared history under the veneer of conservation policy.
“This shrine has symbolized Hindu-Muslim unity for generations,” said Rais Ahmad, president of the shrine committee. “Now the same forest department that once facilitated fairs calls it an encroachment.”
Last month, the administration also curtailed festivities at the Sayyad Salar Masud Ghazi dargah, another historic site in Bahraich, citing “security concerns.”
Experts say such moves are part of a calculated campaign to isolate Islamic traditions from the public domain while promoting a homogenized cultural narrative aligned with Hindutva politics.
For many, these demolitions are not isolated incidents but part of a broader strategy to criminalize Islamic visibility, undermine interfaith harmony, and reconfigure public space through selective application of law.
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