Delhi woman says land allocated for Ayodhya mosque is hers, trust rejects claim

Lucknow: A woman from Delhi has claimed that the land earmarked for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court order in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case belongs to her family, and she will move the apex court to get its possession.

However, Rani Punjabi's claims were denied by Zufar Farooqui, who is the head of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust which has been formed for the construction of the mosque, saying her claims were already rejected by the Allahabad High Court in 2021.

Farooqui, who is also the chairperson of the Sunni Central Waqf Board, said work on the entire project, including the construction of the mosque, will start from October this year.

Rani Punjabi, a resident of Delhi, claims that the five acres of land given by the administration to the Sunni Central Waqf Board in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya after the 2019 order of the Supreme Court is a part of 28.35 acres of land owned by her family.

Rani told PTI they have all the documents of ownership and she will approach the Supreme Court to get it.

According to Rani, her father Gyan Chand Punjabi had to leave the Punajb on Pakistan side after Partition, and he moved to Faizabad (now Ayodhya district) where he was allotted the 28.35 acre of lans in lieu of the land he had to leave behind.

She said her family used the land for farming until 1983, when her father's health deteriorated and the family settled in Delhi for his treatment.

Since then, the land was progressively encroached upon, she claimed.

Rani says she has no objection to the construction of the mosque but she wants the administration to do justice to her.

It is not permissible to build a mosque on any disputed land in Islam.

However, Farooqui said, "There is no obstacle in the project. As far as the woman's claim on the land is concerned, the Allahabad High Court has already rejected it in 2021. There are some minor issues which are being resolved and it is expected that work on the project will start by October." Asked about the board's previous statement that the construction of the mosque and other buildings would start from May this year, Farooqui said, "Yes, there has been some delay because the design of the entire project is being prepared afresh." Also, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) certificate for raising funds has also not been received yet, he said.

A senior official of the project construction committee said on the condition of anonymity that he has met Rani Punjabi several times over her claim and told her that in Islam it is not permissible to build a mosque on a disputed land.

"If she has solid evidence in support of her claim, she should present it, but she could not do so." In a historic verdict delivered on November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court had ordered the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site, while giving five acres land to Muslims at a prominent place in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque.

On the orders of the government, the Sunni Central Waqf Board was allotted the land in Dhannipur village in Raunahi of Ayodhya district.

The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust formed for the construction of the mosque has also announced to build a hospital, community kitchen, library and research institute along with the mosque on the given land.

It was expected that the construction of the mosque would be completed along with that of the Ram Temple.

The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple was done in January, but the construction of the mosque is yet to start.

Those associated with the project attribute the delay to problems in getting the map approved, lack of funds and other issues.