Police station or mosque land? Meerut’s ‘Thane Wali Masjid’ caught in ownership battle over Khasra No. 1217

MEERUT: A mosque located inside the premises of a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district has landed at the centre of a land ownership dispute after authorities claimed that the structure stands on government land belonging to the police department.The controversy erupted following a recent revenue survey, which allegedly found that the Jama Masjid, popularly known as the "Thane Wali Masjid", was built on a portion of land recorded in the name of the Kharkhoda police station.Acting on the survey findings, police have served a seven-day notice seeking ownership documents and directing the mosque management to remove the alleged encroachment.Officials said the Kharkhoda police station, situated on the Meerut-Bulandshahr road, is a pre-Independence establishment and revenue records show that 6,450 square metres of land under Khasra number 1217 has been registered in the name of the police station for decades.According to the administration, a part of this land was encroached upon over the years and a mosque structure came up on it.Kithore circle officer Pramod Kumar Singh said the revenue department's demarcation exercise identified the disputed site as part of the police station property. As part of the legal process, a notice was issued asking the mosque management to furnish relevant documents and remove the alleged unauthorised construction within seven days.

Kharkhoda station house officer Rajpal Singh said the notice was served on Saturday and authorities were awaiting a response.Rejecting the police claims, imam Abdul Ghaffar said the land had been recorded in the name of the Waqf Board in 1985 and that documentary evidence supporting the claim was available.Additional superintendent of police (rural) Abhijeet Kumar said the mosque was not a recent construction and that the issue surfaced only after the latest land demarcation exercise.Officials said the next course of action would depend on verification of ownership records and scrutiny of revenue documents.(With PTI inputs)