By Sohini Ghosh
Dismissing a petition by an NGO seeking removal of alleged illegal encroachment on the Yamuna floodplains — including a mazar and three dargahs — the Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned the bonafide of the NGO, remarking why it has selectively been seeking removal of dargahs and mazars.
The registered trust, Save India Foundation, through its founder, Preet Singh, claims to be working on “raising issues for the enforcement of rights” of citizens.
In 2022, the NGO and Singh were booked by the Delhi Police for an alleged hate speech at the ‘Hindu Mahapanchayat’ organised at a ground in Burari. A key accused in the FIR is Dasna Devi temple head priest Yati Narsinghanand. Singh was also the organiser of an event held at Jantar Mantar in 2021, where anti-Muslim slogans were allegedly raised.
Highlighting that the construction is on public land of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department of the Delhi government, the PIL specifically lists three dargahs and one mazar as unauthorised encroachments while alleging that “a large chunk of land belonging to the government has been encroached upon by land mafia through pseudo religious structures”.
The mazar is in Budh Vihar Phase 2, and the three dargahs in Rohtak Road, Seelampur and Burari.
Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, at the outset, questioned the bonafide of the petitioner. “Aap chun chun ke yeh kahan se le aate hai, dargah? Aur kahin pe encroachment nahi dikhayi deta? (How do you selectively bring forth these petitions of dargahs allegedly encroaching? Do you not see other encroachments?) Why are you identifying only mazars?”
The organisation’s counsel, Umesh Sharma, responded, “There are temples in this encroachment, (but) I’m not targeting them…”
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
