Two days after a mosque was vandalised and set on fire in Ashok Nagar’s Gali Number 5, the saffron flag placed on the dome of the mosque’s minar was removed on Thursday, 27 February.
Afsar Alam, whose family built the mosque, told The Quint, “The EDMC workers have come and started working here on the directions of the district magistrate. The repair work has begun and the flag has been removed. We are worried that this would mean the evidence will vanish.”
The video clip which had gone viral on Tuesday, showed three men climbing the minaret and placing a saffron flag and an Indian flag near the dome. The video also shows plumes of smoke billowing in the background.
When The Quint visited the spot on Wednesday, the flag with a picture of Lord Hanuman and “Jai Shri Ram” written on it was still seen fluttering near the minaret.
Danish, who lives adjacent to the mosque, told The Quint, "The homes of 5-6 Muslims near the mosque have been vandalised and looted."
“We saw a mob on the streets but didn’t think they will come inside our homes. We had called the police but before they reached, the mob pelted stones at the mosque and our homes. They took away all our stuff.”Danish
Defacement of Mosque Wrongly Deemed ‘Fake’
On Tuesday, after the video went viral, some people falsely claimed that the video of the mosque was ‘old’ and was from ‘Samastipur in Bihar’. After The Wire reporter initially confused between Ashok Vihar and Ashok Nagar, due to the similarity in the names of the two places, Delhi Police selectively clarified that no mosque was vandalised in Ashok Vihar but did not say anything about the occurrence of the incident.
To counter this narrative, some people were quick to claim that the video was from ‘Samastipur in Bihar’ and was an old one. In fact, Delhi Police too issued a “clarification” saying that no mosque was vandalised in Ashok Vihar (an initial confusion which was caused due to the similar name of two places, the other being Ashok Nagar), but said nothing about this incident.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)