The Three-Foot Mosque Deal That Still Drew Tear Gas

Police in Ujjain used tear gas and batons on September 28, 2026, after stone-pelting over a Shahi Masjid cut the mosque committee had already agreed to make. The clash at Chhatri Chowk broke hours after an overnight bargain for Simhastha 2028 road widening, and it outran both the city qazi and the High Court.

By evening a Division Bench had disposed of the leftover appeal because the parties said they had already settled. On the street, more than 2,500 police still held the chowk.

Stones and Tear Gas After a Nighttime Bargain

Tensions started on Sunday night, September 27, 2026, when residents gathered at the mosque and sat against the planned cut. On Monday morning the Ujjain Municipal Corporation moved to take the strip that sits in the 15-metre road line from Kanthal crossing toward Gopal Mandir, a stretch of about 900 metres being rebuilt before the mela.

A crowd met the police line. Stones were thrown, tear gas went back, and officers used batons. Rapid Action Force units were on the ground. Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma, present at the site, said police had planned for trouble, cleared Chhatri Chowk, and were watching the area on CCTV and drones. Some personnel took minor injuries. Crime Branch inspector Pushpa Panchal hurt her hand while police tried to move a group of protesting women who had taken cover behind a sheet.

Ujjain Collector Roshan Kumar Singh said the spark was a rumour that the mosque was being pulled down by force. Community members were already taking off the required portion, he said, when some people started throwing stones.

Members of the Muslim community themselves were removing the required portion of the mosque structure but some miscreants cause disturbance in the process and started creating nuisance. The police have dealt with them with mild force.

Roshan Kumar Singh, Ujjain Collector

Sharma said demolition work in the area had been going on since 9 a.m., that a case had been lodged, and that police were identifying people who spread the rumours. He said about seven people were in custody and five content creators who spread misinformation had been booked. A separate FIR named ten people, including five social media influencers. Police also said five people from outside the district had been stopped at the border on Sunday night and held at different stations.

THE CHHATRI CHOWK CLASH

• Force on the ground: More than 2,500 police and officers, with Rapid Action Force units, held Chhatri Chowk after stone-pelting on September 28, 2026.
• Who was held: About seven people were in custody, five content creators were booked, and five people from outside the district were detained at the border.
• Who was hurt: Some police took minor injuries, and Crime Branch inspector Pushpa Panchal cut her hand while moving protesting women.
• Who was cutting stone: Mosque committee workers, not a surprise civic squad, were removing the marked strip from 9 a.m.

Video from the chowk flattened that last point. Clips moved as if the whole mosque were coming down, which is the version that filled phones faster than the collector’s account of a small, agreed cut.

The Committee Cut the Claim From 9.5 Feet to Three

Kuldeep Pathak, advocate for the Shahi Masjid Committee, briefed reporters after the Division Bench rose. He said the administration had been asking for 9.5 feet and that talks had brought the live cut down to three feet, with work already under way.

The administration was demanding 9.5 feet of space. However, following discussions, a compromise has been reached between the committee and the administration. We are ready to remove the 3-foot encroachment, and we have already started the demolition work. Furthermore, the administration has agreed to provide alternative arrangements for the shops being removed, including extra F.A.R. (Floor Area Ratio), compensation as per standard acquisition norms, and the shifting of the minaret to another spot within the mosque complex.

Kuldeep Pathak, advocate for the Shahi Masjid Committee, briefing reporters in Indore

THE 3-FOOT BARGAIN

The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore, Justices Subodh Abhyankar and Jai Kumar Pillai, did not write those feet into the order. Counsel for the appellant told the bench there was “a lot of chaos in Ujjain” and asked that the settlement be recorded. Counsel also said the corporation might not honour what it had promised. Respondents told the bench that after the single-judge order the authorised committee had been given a chance to remove the portion itself, that the appeal had been filed by a faction that was not authorised, that more than 80 structures had already been removed for the widening (most of them temples), and that less than 10 percent of the mosque’s area was proposed to go. They played two videos that, they said, showed the cut being made under the settlement.

The bench disposed of Shahi Masjid Waqf Panch Mochiyan v. State of Madhya Pradesh, WA 3321/2026. It recorded that the matter was already settled, even though the details were not before the court, and it tied the corporation to its own paper.

The matter was already settled between the appellant and the corporation, details of which are not available to the court. Needless to say that the assurances made by the Municipal Corporation in their reply and impugned notice shall be binding on the corporation.

Justice Subodh Abhyankar and Justice Jai Kumar Pillai, Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore, WA 3321/2026

What the September 9 Order Already Said

The legal fight over this strip was already 19 days old in court, and older than that on paper. Two groups claiming to run the waqf property, Shahi Masjid Waqf Panchayat Mochiyaan through Ashfaq Ahmad and Shahi Masjid Waqf Panch Mochiyan through Arshan Hussain, had gone to the Indore Bench against civic notices. Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt dismissed the September 9 writ petitions in a common order (WP 37147 of 2026 and WP 37128 of 2026).

The mosque stands at Municipal No. 524, Khasra No. 2072, Chatri Chowk, almost opposite Mahakaleshwar Temple and close to the Kshipra. Petitioners told the court it is registered waqf, that about 5,000 people pray there daily, and that the road line would take part of the prayer hall (Jamat Khana), the ablution area, a 120-foot minaret used for the azan, and Mazhar Chouk Shahi. They said the corporation had spared other nearby buildings as historic, had used the wrong section of the municipal law, and had not served the Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board. They offered a garden and land across the road as other ways to widen the street.

The corporation’s notices went out on August 14, 25 and 27, 2026, with a final order on September 1, under Section 305 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956, the route for land vesting for a public street. The stated plan is a 15-metre road under the Ujjain Development Plan 2035, timed for Simhastha traffic, Shahi Sawari and Peshwai. Justice Bhatt refused to stop it.

Considering the upcoming event of the Simhastha Kumbh, 2028, whereby the expectations of crores of devotees are required to be kept in mind, as well as the need to provide better facilities and to manage the traffic of such events; and considering the situation of the premises in question, which is almost opposite to the Mahakaleshwar Temple and very near to the Kshipra River. And for the consideration of the larger public safety and larger public interest, the action taken by the respondent is found to be after following the necessary provisions of law.

Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt, Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore, order of September 9, 2026

THE PAPER TRAIL TO CHHATRI CHOWK

1. August 14, 25 and 27, 2026: Ujjain Municipal Corporation issues notices for the portion in the 15-metre road line.
2. September 1, 2026: Final civic order after objections.
3. September 9, 2026: Justice Bhatt dismisses both writ petitions in public-interest terms tied to Simhastha 2028.
4. September 27, 2026: Overnight sitting at the mosque, then a mutual agreement the qazi later described on video.
5. September 28, 2026: Committee workers start the cut from 9 a.m.; stones and tear gas follow; the Division Bench disposes of the appeal as already settled.

The order did not date the mosque. Petitioners called it ancient. Community voices have put it at 636 years, back to 1390, but that year is not established in the public record, and an archaeology voice quoted in local briefings said there was no archaeological file to match it. The court recorded only that it is a religious place that has existed for many years.

Ten Temples Lost Portions on the Same Road

The equal-treatment argument was the one Justice Bhatt shut most firmly. Petitioners said the civic body was picking on a Muslim site while leaving Hindu historic fabric alone. The September 9 order recorded that portions of ten temples and one mosque had already come off on the same road, and that authorities in Ujjain had acted against about 80 religious places in all. On that basis the court said the corporation was not acting in an arbitrary way or in violation of Article 14.

Respondents repeated the scoreboard before the Division Bench, adding that most of the structures already removed were temples. That is the fact the clip war kept missing. A cut at Shahi Masjid reads as a communal raid if the viewer never sees the temple masonry that went first on the same alignment. It reads as a road line if the viewer does. Both readings were in circulation on September 28, and they were not looking at the same three feet.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, in remarks that spread on Sunday, said he saluted the people of Ujjain for a “peaceful protest” to save the mosque. Police on Monday described stones, tear gas and a rumour they were still tracing to phones. Those two sentences can describe the same hours only if the overnight sitting and the morning clash are treated as one event. They were not. The sitting was a protest. The morning was a deal already in motion, then a crowd that arrived after the qazi had told people to stay home.

Highways, a Bypass and a 15-Metre Inner Line

Chhatri Chowk is a local fight inside a much larger build. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, inspecting the Rajsi Sawari Marg on August 20, 2026, said 30 to 40 crore people are expected for Simhastha 2028. He thanked residents and shopkeepers who had already taken down their own encroachments. Ujjain is a city of about five lakh people. The inner roads were not laid for that crowd.

The Kanthal-to-Gopal Mandir corridor is being taken to 15 metres across about 900 metres. A shorter piece of the same royal-procession route, the 410 metres from Kanthal Square to Chhatri Chowk, already had about 310 metres of PCC road down when the chief minister visited. That is the segment on which the mosque sits, and it is not the only 15-metre job in the old city.

INNER-CITY STRETCHES MARKED FOR 15 METRES

Outside the lanes, the state is stacking heavier kit for the same mela, including the road projects planned before Simhastha 2028: a Rs 945 crore elevated corridor of about 5 kilometres from Chimanganj Mandi toward the Indore road, a four-lane bypass upgrade, and a package of 17 new Kshipra bridges plus four rail overbridges budgeted at Rs 482.35 crore. The first Shahi Snan is listed for April 2028. The inner 15-metre line is how that calendar reaches a mosque wall.

Why the Qazi’s Video Did Not Hold the Street

Ujjain city Qazi Khali Kurre Rehman recorded a message after the overnight talks and told people the dispute was over, that nobody needed to come to the site, and that the pledged work was already being done. He asked the community not to step out on the basis of rumours.

The matter regarding the mosque was resolved overnight through mutual agreement. There is no situation that requires anyone to visit the site. The task that was pledged to be completed is currently being carried out. Everyone is urged not to pay heed to any rumours and to avoid stepping out of their homes to visit the site unnecessarily based on such rumours.

Khali Kurre Rehman, Ujjain city qazi, video message

The message did not hold. A sitting had already drawn people in on Sunday night. By Monday morning a second crowd was on the lanes, and police were firing tear gas. Sharma said some of the trouble was stirred by people from outside, and that social media was under watch. Booking five content creators is the administration’s way of saying the rumour had authors. It does not prove every stone came from a phone. It does show how fast a 3-foot civic cut can be retold as the fall of a mosque, and how little a qazi’s video weighs once that retelling is on the move.

Two waqf factions had already been in court, which meant there was no single “committee” voice for the street to trust. Respondents told the Division Bench the appeal was from an unauthorised group. Pathak spoke as if the authorised committee were the one on the tools. That split is not a footnote. It is how an overnight deal can be true on paper and still look like a raid to people who follow the other office-bearers.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The cut: Committee workers were removing a 3-foot strip under a settlement, not razing the mosque.
• The court: The September 9 petitions were dismissed, and the September 28 appeal was disposed of as already settled, with civic assurances made binding.
• The road: The live job is a 15-metre line on the Kanthal-Gopal Mandir corridor for Simhastha 2028.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The influencers: Police have not released names or the exact posts of the five content creators they booked.
• The 9.5-foot plan: Pathak’s figure is the committee’s account of what the administration first wanted; the court order did not fix that width.
• The factions: It is not public how far both waqf groups accept the 3-foot deal and the minaret shift as final.

The louder public argument treated the mosque as either a unique target or a uniquely protected holdout. The court file is duller than that. It is a road line, a notice, a slice, and a city that has already taken masonry off temples on the same street.

Shops, Extra Floor Space and a Minaret Shifted Inward

If Pathak’s terms hold, the mosque remains, the azan tower moves inside the compound, and the shops that sit in the strip are supposed to be made whole with space, extra floor area and compensation. That is a much smaller story than the one that filled the lanes, and it is the story the Division Bench declined to write down because the details were not on the record. The bench only said the corporation’s assurances and the impugned notice bind the civic body. Enforcement of extra floor area and shop space will now be a municipal paper chase, not a slogan.

WHAT THE COMMITTEE SAYS IT WON IN RETURN

• A shorter cut: Three feet of masonry instead of the 9.5 feet Pathak said the administration wanted.
• The minaret: Relocation inside the mosque complex rather than a fight over a 120-foot tower on the road line.
• The shops: Alternative arrangements, extra floor area, and compensation on standard acquisition norms.
• The labour: Committee members doing the work themselves, which the collector used as proof the action was not a forcible razing.

That was not visible to a person who arrived at Chhatri Chowk after watching a clip of tear gas. The work the committee pledged is the work that still has to be finished under a police ring. Sharma said the misunderstanding was clear and the situation peaceful once the chowk had been emptied. Pathak said the demolition work had already started. Between those two sentences sits a 3-foot strip, a minaret that is supposed to move inward, and a rumour that got to the street first.