Agra: 100+ houses ‘illegally built’ on railways land being razed near Krishna Janmasthan | India News – Times of India
Though notices were issued to people living there, they had taken the matter to the civil court where its next hearing is scheduled on August 21. Despite the matter being sub judice, the demolition exercise went on through the day, locals said. A total of 135 houses with over 200 families have been marked for demolition. Divisional work engineer of railways Nitin Garg said, “Structures illegally constructed on railway land are being removed following due process. The land is required to transform the line from Mathura to Vrindavan from narrow gauge to broad gauge.”
Rajesh Kumar Saini, lawyer for the affected families, said, “After getting notices from the railways, we had filed a petition in the civil court (senior division) in Mathura. Thereafter, the court issued a notice to the railways seeking a response on the matter. Last month, the authorities sought additional time to file a response, which has not happened so far. Despite the matter being sub judice, the demolition is being carried out.”
The Shri Krishna Janmasthan — also ‘Janmabhoomi’ in court documents — is adjacent to the Shahi Idgah mosque, the ownership of which is being challenged legally. At least 15 cases were filed for removal of the mosque (now a disputed site) which was built at the Krishna Janmasthan on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on the 13.37-acre (to be precise) premises of Katra Keshav Dev temple in the 16th century.
In May, all cases pending in local courts were transferred to the Allahabad HC. Interestingly, in January, the Supreme Court stayed orders of the Uttarakhand HC in the Haldwani case, where it had allowed “use of force” to evict 4,000 families living on what the railways claimed was its land. The SC had said people in large numbers cannot be uprooted by using force without examining their rights. Mohd Naseem, 55, whose house was demolished, said, “Authorities are not ready to listen to us. They refused to see papers of the properties. We are being targeted because of our religious identity.”
Another resident, Yakub Shah, 66, said, “I have lived here all my life. Our houses are being razed illegally. We were not even allowed to take out our belongings.” Sayeed Ahmed, an 84-year-old resident, said, “Our ancestors had given a part of their land to the British government for a new railway line in 1888. Today, we are being uprooted from our own land.” PRO of the Agra railway division, Prashasti Srivastava, said “proper legal procedure was following before conducting the drive”, adding that “a high speed rail corridor has been proposed for operation of trains like Vande Bharat”.
