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Gir Somnath (Gujarat): Javed Hussain Banva, a 12th-generation caretaker at Gir Somnath’s Pir Silar Shah Dargah, recently lost his eyesight. Banva has lost partial vision without any genetic or medical predispositions that could have led to the condition.

“After I witnessed the bulldozing of the shrine of our saint, our Sufi, nothing made sense to me. The doctors told me I lost my vision because of my anxiety and stress,” said Banva, recalling the bulldozing of the Pir Silar Shah Dargah and eight other structures of Islamic significance in September 2024.

Banva’s home, life and memories of childhood lie under the rubble that neighbours the rubble of the Pir Silar Shah Dargah. Seven months ago, at four in the morning, when Muslims begin waking up for dawn prayers, Muslims in Gir Somnath district were jolted out of their sleep by hundreds of policemen who made way for bulldozers.

The day when the police orchestrated the demolition is deeply etched in the minds of Gir Somnath’s Muslims. That day, over 200 Muslims saw the state crush their lives and livelihoods using hydraulic cranes, at least 60 excavators, 50 tractor trailers, five dumpers and about 1,400 policemen.

On September 28, 2024, the Dargah, along with eight other religious structures associated with Muslims and 47 mostly Muslim-owned houses in the Veraval area of Gir Somnath district in Gujarat, were demolished by authorities in a six-hour drive. As many as 200 locals were affected, said Banva. While the demolitions took place, police detained around 150 locals, it is alleged.

For the last eight months, Ismailbhai Chhel, a resident of Veraval, has been waging a war against what he calls the arbitrary razing of Muslims’ sentiments – the demolition of the nine shrines.

In Prabhas Patan, after several historic shrines such as the Haji Mangrol Dargah, Shah Silar Dargah, Garib Shah Dargah, Mayapuri Dargah and Jafar Muzaffar Dargah were bulldozed, Chhel, as the president of the Auliya-E-Deen Committee – a committee founded for the shrines’ maintenance in Gir Somnath – vowed to avenge the desecration of the shrines legally.

The matter was heard at the Supreme Court as a special leave petition (SLP)........

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