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Following demands from Hindutva groups, municipal authorities initially ordered the demolition of the top three floors in October 2024, later extending the order to the entire mosque in May 2025.

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The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed that the lower two floors of the Sanjauli Mosque remain intact, while ordering the removal of the top three floors. The court instructed that the municipal commissioner’s demolition order for the upper floors be implemented, with compliance to continue until the next hearing scheduled for March 9, 2026.

Justice Ajay Mohan Goyal, after hearing the Wakf Board and mosque committee, emphasized that the floors previously promised to be removed must be demolished. The Wakf Board informed the court that two of the three top floors have already been removed and the remaining one will also be taken down.

The decision comes after a prolonged legal and social dispute. Since September 2024, Hindutva organizations have been demanding the demolition of portions of the mosque that they claim were constructed illegally. Tensions were triggered by a fight between two shopkeepers from different communities, which also led to Hindutva groups demanding mandatory registration of migrant workers.

In October 2-24, the municipal commissioner first ordered the demolition of the top three floors.

Later in May 2025, the commissioner extended the order to the entire mosque, declaring it illegal.

The district court upheld these demolition orders in October 2025.

However, today’s High Court ruling protects the mosque from being completely demolished and erased.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 9, 2026

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