Mehrauli: A mosque demolished, and orphans displaced in India - BBC News

Authorities have demolished a 600-year-old mosque in Delhi, claiming it was illegally built on forest land.

3 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Antariksh Jain/BBCImage caption, Around two dozen children lived in the madrassa run by the now-demolished mosque - most of them are orphansBy Zoya MateenBBC News, DelhiFawad says his favourite colour is green.

The 12-year-old loved looking at the grass, leaves and trees around the mosque where he lived and studied in India's capital Delhi. He moved here two years ago from a neighbouring state after his parents suddenly died.

His home in Delhi - the Akhoondji Mosque, estimated to be at least 600 years old, and its adjoining madrassa (religious school) - was also green, its joists, beams and several archways painted in the same colour.

In a new city, looking at the familiar colour made Fawad feel safe. But now, he says it makes him cry.

On 30 January, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) - a federally-run urban planning organisation - bulldozed the mosque, alleging illegal encroachment. Along with it, the madrassa - where Fawad and 25 other students, mostly orphans, lived - and an adjacent graveyard and a shrine of a Sufi saint (Islamic mystic) located inside the mosque complex were also razed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68137664?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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