The authorities in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district on Saturday demolished nine mosques and shrines, and 45 homes in the Prabhas Patan area near the Somnath temple for alleged land encroachment, the Hindustan Times reported.

The demolition drive started in the early hours of Saturday and continued for more than six hours, District Collector DD Jadeja told The Indian Express. “Encroachment from 15 hectares of land, which is worth Rs 60 crore, has been removed,” Jadeja said.

An allegedly illegal lodge with 40 rooms was also demolished during the drive, the Hindustan Times quoted DD Jadeja as saying.

Hundreds of police personnel were deployed in the Somnath and Veraval towns as a precautionary measure, Superintendent of Police Manoharsinh Jadeja told The Indian Express.

The police used mild force to maintain law and order in one location during the demolition drive amid resistance from the residents, but there was no major incident, Manoharsinh Jadeja said.

A hundred and fifty persons were detained to maintain law and order, the police official told ANI.

The district collector said that a part of the land where the structures were demolished belonged to the Shree Somnath Trust, which manages the Somnath temple. The encroachments were removed following several court rulings against the encroachment.

“The government had allotted some plots of land to Somnath Trust in the 1950s on a lease for 99 years,” The Indian Express quoted DD Jadeja as saying. “Over time, these plots were encroached. The matter had reached the Gujarat High Court in 1986, but the ruling had come in favour of the government.”

Subsequently, another lawsuit against the evictions reached the High Court in 2020.

“But the court didn’t grant the encroachers any relief,” the district collector said. “Hence, the encroachments have been removed.”

Following the demolitions, the Minority Coordination Committee of Gujarat, which advocates the rights of religious minorities, wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel seeking justice for the Muslim community, the Hindustan Times reported.

The committee alleged that several ancient shrines in Prabhas Patan, including the Haji Mangrol Dargah, Shah Silar Dargah, Garib Shah Dargah and Jafar Muzaffar Dargah, had been bulldozed.

In its letter, the group claimed that the presence of the Haji Mangrol Shah Dargah had been recorded in the Junagadh state’s revenue records dating back to 1924.

“Despite cases being pending in the High Court and Waqf Tribunal, the demolition was carried out, which is truly an unjust act,” the committee said.

The Minority Coordination Committee of Gujarat also pointed to the Supreme Court’s September 17 interim order staying demolitions across the country without its permission till October 1. The court had clarified that the directive did not apply to unauthorised constructions on public roads, footpaths, railway lines or public places.

The top court’s directives came on a batch of petitions challenging “bulldozer action” by various state governments, whereby properties belonging to persons accused of crimes have been punitively demolished.

The district collector said that the alleged encroachments were razed after following the due process of law, The Indian Express reported.

“Having failed to prove ownership of land on which the structures were standing, we had served notices to occupants around 20 days ago, asking them to demolish and remove debris within 15 days,” DD Jadeja was quoted as saying.

He added: “Then again, we told them to demolish these structures on their own or else the government would do that. As they didn’t comply, we undertook the demolition drive after following the due process.”

Demolitions ‘illegal’, shrines 800 years old, says Congress

Nusrat Panja, vice president of the Congress’ Gujarat unit, claimed the demolitions were “illegal”.

Panja asserted that the structures had a history of 700 years to 800 years and were protected as Waqf Board properties. “But the collector, and by extension, the government misinterpreted court judgements to demolish these structures,” The Indian Express quoted the Congress leader as saying.

The Congress leader said that a Veraval court had ruled that the Waqf tribunal should decide the civil suit regarding the land, with a hearing expected on October 11.

“The parties concerned moved the Gujarat High Court, seeking protection against any coercive action,” Panja added. “The High Court had fixed October 8 as the date of hearing. But before that hearing, the collector ordered demolition after giving a final warning on Friday.”