The incident was caught on CCTV.

A 35-year-old man fell to death from the roof of a building in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar on Monday. The incident took place when the victim, Farid, lost his balance while throwing a cardboard.

The disturbing incident was captured on CCTV – which shows a man wearing a blue jacket standing in a small alley near the building. A bundle of cardboard first fell on the floor. Within seconds, the victim fell. The man can be seen trying to save Farid, but he fails to do so.

The victim was rushed to a hospital nearby where he died, officials said.

He was a scrap dealer in the area.

In another incident last week in UP, a man, his daughter and his niece were burnt to death after a high-tension electric cable fell on them in Gorakhpur. the incident was caught on CCTV which showed the man and the two girls on a bike and taking a left close to a garbage dump. They came in contact with an 11,000 Volt high tension wire and were electrocuted. Within seconds, the bike caught fire and the man and the two children were burned to death and no one could rescue them.

The trio died on the spot, officials said.

Muzaffarnagar:

In western Uttar Pradesh, the district of Muzaffarnagar is at the centre of a property dispute that stretches back to the tumultuous years of the Partition. The property in question, a mosque and four shops located near the Muzaffarnagar railway station has recently been declared “enemy property” following an investigation. The ownership of the land traces its roots to the family of Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, with claims that it was illegally occupied after the Partition in 1947.

The dispute has triggered debates over the legitimacy of its ownership, with one faction claiming the land belongs to the Waqf Board, while another argues it is a product of unlawful encroachment. 

Historical Backdrop

The property dispute can be traced back to 1918 when the land was first occupied by Rustam Ali Khan, the father of Liaquat Ali Khan. Liaquat Ali Khan was born in Haryana’s Karnal and was the second son of Rustam Ali Khan and his wife Mahmoodah Begum, the daughter of Nawab Quaher Ali Khan UP’s Saharanpur.

He had a deep connection with Muzaffarnagar, where he campaigned successfully for the United Provinces Legislative Council in 1926. His association with the region was not just political but also familial, as his extended family lived in the area for decades.

In 1932, Liaquat Ali Khan was elected Deputy President of the United Provinces Legislative Council and continued his political career until his elevation to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1940. The Khan family’s political influence in the region was substantial, and their holdings in Muzaffarnagar were significant, spanning several properties, including the one in question. However, after the Partition of India in 1947, the fate of these properties changed dramatically.

Liaquat Ali Khan with his wife and children, June, 1947.
Photo Credit: Getty

Liaquat Ali Khan’s migration to Pakistan turned his Indian properties into “enemy properties,” a designation under Indian law that applies to the assets of individuals who left the country for Pakistan after the Partition. In the years following his migration, his family’s assets in India became a point of contention.

Liaquat Ali Khan was shot twice in the chest while addressing a 100,000-strong rally in Rawalpindi in 1951. His assassin, Said Akbar Khan, was fatally shot by Pakistani security forces seconds later.

The Mosque And Shops

The controversy surrounding the land escalated when a mosque was constructed on the property in question, situated directly across from the Muzaffarnagar railway station. Sanjay Arora, the convener of a group called the Rashtriya Hindu Shakti Sangathan, brought attention to the construction in 2023, alleging that the mosque and shops were built illegally on enemy property. Mr Arora argued that the mosque, which he claimed was “constructed like a hotel”, did not adhere to the legal regulations governing construction in the area, as it had not received approval from the Muzaffarnagar Development Authority (MDA).

“There are no documents for this property with the Waqf Board,” Mr Arora claimed. “When an individual has moved to Pakistan, their land is either illegal property or enemy property.” 

The mosque and the shops in question.

Mr Arora, without providing any evidence to back his claim, made further allegations that the property and the mosque that it hosts are a “threat to national security”. 

His complaint to the district administration led to a multi-tiered investigation by local authorities, which included representatives from the Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate’s Office, the Revenue Department, and the Municipal Corporation. The investigation was escalated when it was referred to the Enemy Property Office in Delhi, where a team was dispatched to survey the land.

Sanjay Arora, the convener of the Rashtriya Hindu Shakti Sangathan.

The exact worth of the property has not been calculated yet. 

The Enemy Property Act

The Enemy Property Act, 1968, governs the appropriation of properties in India belonging to Pakistani nationals. Introduced in the aftermath of the India-Pakistan War of 1965, the Act transfers ownership of such properties to the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, a designated government authority.

According to the Enemy Property Agency, the land in question had indeed been declared enemy property. The property was found to be under the ownership of Rustam Ali Khan, Liaquat Ali Khan’s father, who had left India for Pakistan after the Partition. 

In response to these findings, the government moved to issue a legal notice to the occupants of the land, directing them to vacate the premises. 

The Counter-Claim

Despite the declaration of the land as enemy property, there remains a counter-narrative. Those occupying the mosque and the shops argue that the land was legally waqf (a form of Islamic endowment), which means it was donated for religious purposes. According to the individuals on the Muslim side of the dispute, the property had been registered with the Waqf Board, and they have submitted documentation to that effect, including a letter from 1937 to bolster their claims.

One of the key figures defending the status of the property as waqf is Mohammad Athar, a local businessman who runs a shop on the land. He insists that the property belonged to Rustam Ali Khan, who had endowed it to the Waqf. Mr Athar dismissed the claim that the land belongs to Liaquat Ali Khan and claimed that political motivations and misinformation are driving the entire dispute.

Mohammad Athar, a local businessman who runs a shop on the land.

“The land did not belong to Liaquat Ali Khan but his father Rustam Ali Khan who donated the land to waqf,” Mr Athar claimed. “The mosque at this property has existed before the partition of the country. We have presented all the evidence to prove this, and we hope the government rethinks its decision and deliberates on the matter once again as the livelihoods of several families depend on it.”

The claimants argue that the mosque, which has existed for decades, was not built in violation of any law and that the rent collected from the shops is legitimate. They maintain that the designation of the land as enemy property is an incorrect claim based on misinterpretation of historical records. 

Legal Ramifications

The legal complexities surrounding the ownership of enemy property are not unique to Muzaffarnagar. Across India, several properties previously owned by individuals who migrated to Pakistan after the Partition have been caught in similar disputes.

In a landmark case, the Indian Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the property of Mohammed Amir Mohammed Khan, the erstwhile Raja of UP’s Mehmoodabad, was classified as enemy property. The Supreme Court ruled on the ownership of valuable properties in Sitapur and Lucknow, which were controlled by the state government. These properties were valued at no less than Rs 3,000 crore.

New Delhi:

Students in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, appearing for their Class 10 Boards exam, came to the exam centre today with iron rods, chains, and sharp weapons, the police said.

Anurag Jain, the Principal of KK Jain Inter College, called the police and said some students might clash after the exams.

Soon a police team was rushed to the college. The cops searched the students’ bikes parked outside and recovered iron chains, rods, and sharp weapons from the bags hanging from the two-wheelers. 

The students were identified and after the exam, around 12 of them were brought to the police station, the police said, adding, their parents were also called.

The police said they will speak with the parents and take action.

New Delhi:

A case has been registered against the Uttar Pradesh school teacher who was seen asking students to slap their Muslim classmate in a viral video – which has triggered a massive outrage.

Tripta Tyagi – who is also the principal of the Neha Public School in Muzaffarnagar – was seen making communal remarks while asking students to slap the 7-year-old as he stood helplessly with tears streaming down his face.

Tripta Tyagi, however, says that she is not “ashamed” of her egregious act. “I am not ashamed. I have served the people of this village as a teacher. They all are with me,”Ms Tyagi told NDTV.

She sought to justify her action, saying that it’s important to “control” the kids at school.

“They have made laws, but we need to control the children in schools. This is how we tackle them,” Ms Tyagi said.

Ms Tyagi had earlier dismissed the row over the viral video as a “minor issue”. “This wasn’t my intention. I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue”, she said.

A senior police officer claimed after a probe, they had established that the teacher had said, “the mothers of those Muslim children who do not pay attention to the studies of their wards, their academics get totally destroyed.”

Aravind Mallappa Bangari, District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar said that a First Information Report or FIR has been registered against the teacher.

“We have done a full investigation. On the complaint of the child’s father, we have registered a case against the accused teacher, departmental action is also being taken against the teacher,” said Mr Bangari.

The boy was forced to stand for hours, humiliated and beaten, his father told the police.

“My son is seven. The teacher had my child beaten up repeatedly by students. My nephew made the video, he had gone to school for some work… My seven-year-old was tortured for an hour or two. He is scared. This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. We want the law to take its own course,” said the boy’s father.

The child is in shock, he said.

The video has triggered a massive outrage on social media. Politicians across the party lines also condemned the incident as a hate crime, targeting the ruling BJP government in the state. 

UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak said: “We have taken cognizance and full action will be taken.”