A video is going viral on the internet with a claim stating that the historic Hinglaj Mata Mandir in Pakistan has been demolished after it was ordered by an anti-encroachment court.
Who shared the claim?: Media organisations, such as News24 (now deleted), Dainik Jagran, Navbharat Times, Republic World, HW English, shared the claim. Several social media users, too, shared similar claims on their handles.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Navbharat Times/Screenshot)
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
(More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: The claim lacks proper context. The historic Hinglaj Mata Mandir is located in Pakistan's Balochistan, whereas the recent demolition took place in Mithi, Sindh.
The anti-encroachment tribunal of Mirpur Khas ordered the demolition of the temple after a case was filed alleging that the temple was constructed on public land.
According to the police and local journalists, both the parties involved in the case were Hindus.
What led us to the truth?: We performed a keyword search on X and came across a post shared by a Pakistani journalist named Sanjay Sadhwani.
He shared similar visuals of the temple and said that it was neither a historical temple, nor a religious site. Sadhwani mentioned that the land was encroached by several people. The matter was then taken to the court, where both the parties belonged to the Hindu community.
The Quint reached out to Sadhwani for more details about the incident.
He said, "The fight is between the Khatris and Lohanas, and both of them belong to the Hindu community. 20-25 years ago, there used to be a well used by the Khatris in the place where the temple was constructed. This was not a temple...The matter was then taken to the court."
What was the case about?: Sadhwani shared the court documents with us. The case was fought between one Aroon (plaintiff) and Paroo Mal & Others (defendants) and was heard before the anti-encroachment tribunal, Mirpur Khas.
According to the plaintiff i.e., Aroon, there was a water well in front of his house, which was in abandoned condition for more than 20 years.
He alleged that Paroo Mal and other people constructed a compound wall surrounding the water well, including open space of about 1000 square feet which is public property.
While the wall was soon demolished, the defendants again constructed a wall that allegedly disturbed Aroon's house's main gate.
The defendants said that the land belonged to their ancestors, which the Khatri community used to construct a well, dharamshala, and mandir on the land in 1936. They alleged that the plaintiff encroached the land, after the old walls dilapidated during the rainy seasons.
The arguments put forth by both sides.
(Source: Court orders/Screenshot)
Court's order on the case: The court observed that the defendants did not provide any evidence to support their claim that there was a mandir or dharamshala at the said land.
It also highlighted that the private defendants let the neighbours throw their garbage on the disputed area as well as allowed others to celebrate festivals on it.
It further observed that encroaching of land even for construction of a mandir, masjid is not permitted under the law or any religion.
The court disposed the suit on 7 December 2022 and ordered the deputy commissioner of Tharparkar district to remove the encroachment from the area.
The observations made by the court.
(Source: Court orders/Screenshot)
Wajahat Kazmi, another Pakistani journalist, corroborated the details to The Quint and said that "it was basically an illegal encroachment case where the plaintiff's land was encroached on and declared a Mandir to avoid legal action."
Statement from the plaintiff's father: We reached out to Aroon's father, Harish Chander Lohana, who confirmed that about 900 square feet of land was encroached by the Khatri community.
"They raised compound wall in 2021. Revenue Officer demolished it. Again they raised compound wall and erected flag and board in the name of Mata Hinglaj Mandir. This disputed area was in front of my house and created hindrance. I requested them for removal of one wall disturbing my side but they refused. I filed complaint in February 2022 before Anti- Encroachment Tribunal, it was allowed in December 2022. Under compliance, Revenue Officer demolished it but still icon of Mata is still there. Three walls demolished."Harish Chander Lohana, plaintiff's father
What did the police say?: The Quint found a statement shared by SSP Tharparkar, Ali Mardan Khoso, on the official Facebook page of Sindh Police.
Khoso said that the illegal encroachment was removed on 23 November in compliance with the anti-encroachment tribunal.
The video was shared on 27 November.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
A different video shared on the Facebook page of Tharparkar Police showed Khoso mentioning that both parties involved in the case belonged to the Hindu community.
He further mentioned that the claims about a particular community being targeted are false.
Distance between Hinglaj Mata Mandir and demolition site: While the historical temple is located in the Lasbela district in Pakistan's Balochistan province, the demolition took place at Mithi, Sindh.
The distance between both the places was around 562 kilometres.
(Source: Google Maps)
Conclusion: It is clear that the video going viral on the internet lacks proper context. The temple's walls were demolished due to a land dispute case between two parties.
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