Supreme Court upholds demolition of Ujjain's Takiya Mosque

The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with the demolitions of Ujjain's 200-year-old Takiya Mosque. A Justice Vikram Nath led bench noted that the demolition was required under a statutory scheme and requisite compensation was paid over the demolition by the government.

The state authorities demolished a mosque named Takiya and 257 homes in January this year to make way for the Mahakaleshwar Temple Corridor Project. The area was cleared for making a parking space.

Notably, the government had already disbursed Rs 33 crore as part of the Rs 66 crore in compensation to the displaced families before the demolition began. This land is being cleared to create space for expanded vehicular parking and a Pravachan Hall, essential for the preparations of the 2028 Ujjain Simhastha (Kumbh).

Before the Supreme Court, a plea was filed challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision upholding its demolition. Supreme Court has been told that the mosque, duly notified as waqf property in 1985, remained a functional place of worship until its “illegal and arbitrary demolition” in January.

Today, the bench was told that the High Court's reasoning required consideration. "The reasoning in the impugned order is that people may offer prayer even in house or elsewhere. This is the reasoning.", court was told.

To this the bench responded, "The high court has made a very good reasoning that the petition was dismissed and withdrawn, compensation paid…dismissed."

The counsel went on to tell the court, "Because you need parking for some other religious place you demolish the mosque and say you don’t have a right?".

The plea argued that said demolition violated laws, including the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the Waqf Act, 1995 and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

It was further alleged that there were serious irregularities in the state’s land acquisition process, claiming that compensation was wrongly granted to unauthorised occupants and encroachers to create a false case of acquisition.

Before the Supreme Court, a petition was filed by 13 Ujjain residents who said they regularly offered namaz at Takiya Masjid. They contended that the structure, notified as a waqf in 1985 and used as a functional place of worship, was demolished “illegally and arbitrarily” in January despite constitutional and statutory protections.

High Court had relied on precedent to hold that the right to practice religion does not attach to any particular place of worship, noting that acquisition of land does not infringe Article 25 so long as the freedom to practice the faith itself remains unaffected. The high court had further said that compensation was assessed and disbursed by the land acquisition officer to those found entitled.

Case Title: MOHAMMED TAIYAB Vs STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

Hearing Date: November 7, 2025

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta