Citing illegality, the Land and Development Office (L&DO), New Delhi under the Union urban development ministry demolished parts of an Islamic seminary in the Bengali Market area on 11 April.
Officials termed the demolition as part of an anti-encroachment drive.
The drive began around 6.20 am and lasted for several hours amid heavy police presence.
"Some illegal constructions at the madrasa were removed, but there was no damage to the prayer area inside the mosque," officials said.
However, Hafiz Matlub Karim, a member of the managing committee of the seminary, alleged that they were not given prior notice.
“Within 10 minutes, they started demolishing the outer wall of the complex. They continued the demolition along the walls and rooms where the students stay,” he said.
These are not illegal structures. Ours is a 200-year-old institution,” Karim added.
Delhi has seen multiple fantastic-encroachment drives at religious structures in the last couple of months.
The Public Works Department (PWD) removed unauthorized religious structures including temples and mosques at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near ITO and an encroachment removal action was conducted at the site of an old dargah near Hazrat Nizamuddin in south Delhi on April 1.
