Rashid Billah
KUSHINAGAR (UP)—Hemant Shukla, gram pradhan ( village chief) of Kishanpur Vijaypur under Khadda tehsil of Kushinagar district, has allegedly forcibly occupied a part of the 100-year-old Muslim qabristan, or the graveyard. He has built a school building over the encroached land.
Former Pradhan Dalji Prasad told India Tomorrow over the phone that the existing village chief now did not allow Muslims to bury their dead.
Daljit alleged that Shukla had threatened Muslim residents with dire consequences if they raised any voice against the grabbing of qabristan land. In addition, Shukla, according to Daljit, told Muslims that they would be thrown out of the village if they raised any voice against the building of a school on the land belonging to the graveyard.
Shukla, however, told India Tomorrow that the allegations against him were baseless.
Daljit said Muslims used the qabristan for generations. “We have witnessed this since our childhood. This land is being used for burial by the Muslim community. But the present village chief has taken possession of Qabristan’s land illegally,” claims former Pradhan.
“The present Pradhan has constructed a drain through the qabristan and a Chhath ghat,” says Daljit. The existing Pradhan has also settled some people in some of the qabristan lands.
“Mischievously, the land of Qabristan has been divided into many parts despite a pending court case,” points out Daljit.
Daljit alleged that during construction, bones were found, but these were disposed of on the orders of the current Pradhan.
Muslim villagers said they represented their case before district officials, but they got no relief.
Seventy-year-old villager Badri said, “I have seen this Qabristan since my childhood. Whatever construction work has been done, it has been done in the last few years. I have been at the funeral of many Muslims who have been buried here.”
Badri said the school was constructed recently on the Qabristan land. “Earlier, the place where the school is now was empty.”
Budhiram Sharma, another villager, said, “This school has been constructed recently on Qabristan land illegally by using force as I have seen this land as that of the Qabristan.”
Brij Narayan from the same village expressed his surprise that even qabristan land can be grabbed. He said, “How can anyone grab the land of a Qabirstan? Not only that, this is being used for gaining financial benefits. So it is completely wrong.”
Another villager, Saddam, told this news portal, “Chhath ghat was at the end of Qabristan land, but that has been walled, and it has been joined with the school by village chief Hemant Shukla. He grows vegetables on Qabristan land and uses it for personal works.”
Earlier, efforts were made to resolve this dispute in police presence, but when the administration saw the school constructed on the land of Qabristan, they simply left the site without demolishing the encroachment.
Meanwhile, the Muslim party continues to fight the case in court. Muslims hope the local administration will help them and remove the encroachment from their land.
