When the Waqf Board claimed rights over the entire Hindu-Muslim village with a population of 10,000, know what happened next:

News India Live, Digital Desk: Imagine, the land of the village in which your ancestors played, grew up and you have been living for generations, is suddenly handed over to someone else one morning. Something similar has happened with the people of Sihada village in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Here the Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board has created a stir by claiming the entire revenue village with a population of about 10,000 as its property.

After all, how did this whole matter start?

The controversy arose when the panchayat of Sihada village issued a notice to remove encroachment on government land near a dargah. The panchayat wanted to build a government complex there. Instead of replying to the Panchayat, the Dargah Committee complained directly to the Waqf Board sitting in Bhopal. After this it seems as if the story has changed. The Waqf Board declared not only that small land but the entire Khasra No. 781 of Sihada village, i.e. 140.500 hectares of land, as its property. Not only this, the Waqf Board Tribunal also sent a notice to the Collector, Sarpanch and Secretary and ordered them to appear in Bhopal on November 10.

What do the villagers and the Panchayat have to say?

After this notice there is an atmosphere of fear and anger in the village. Hemant Chauhan, representative of village Sarpanch Kokilabai, has called this claim of the Waqf Board completely false and fabricated. He says that this is completely government land, on which people’s houses, temples and other government buildings are built. The Panchayat alleges that the Waqf Board has not presented any solid document in support of its claim. The villagers say that they have been living here for generations and also pay taxes to the Panchayat regularly. They fear that if this claim is accepted, the entire village will become homeless.

What is the logic of Waqf Board?

On the other hand, Dargah Committee and Waqf Board have their own side. According to Dargah Committee Treasurer Sheikh Shafi, this land is about 300 years old and has been mentioned as Waqf property in the Government Gazette dated 25 August 1989. District Waqf Board Committee Secretary Riyaz Khan also clarified that they have not claimed the entire village but only 39 thousand square feet of land, where the Panchayat wants to build shops. They allege that the Sarpanch is misleading the people.

Currently, the case is now in the Bhopal-based Waqf Tribunal, where both the parties will present their respective arguments. This incident is a prime example of how land-related disputes can start with a short notice and become a threat to the existence of the entire village. The people of Sihada village are now just waiting for the verdict, hoping that their ancestral land will not be taken away from them.