Violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh early on Sunday morning by which three persons were killed and many others, including the police personnel, were injured. It cropped up when a court ordered the officials to conduct a feasibility study on the Mughal built Shashi Jama Masjid; this brought a controversy on its construction on the remains of temple.
According to the police people killed Naeem, Bilal, and Nauman, said to have fired in the air to control a mob protesting the survey. But residents claimed that the police were the cause of the deaths saying that the police were the ones who instigated a peaceful protest into violence. Moradabad divisional commissioner Ananjay Kumar Singh said 15 to 20 security personnel were injured with head injury of one constable serious and an officerfractured leg.
Survey of Mosques Being Conducted at Direction of Court
The violence erupted on the basis of a survey conducted on the directions of a Sambhal civil court after seven petitioners alleged that Mughal emperor Babar constructed the Jama Masjid in 1529 by pulling down Harrihar Mandir. Finally, the court ordered that the survey should be done by November 29. On Sunday, Ramesh Raghav, a court commissioner, came accompanied by a team, district magistrate Rajendra Paisiya, and SP Krishna Kumar for the survey.
SP chief, Akhilesh Yadav strongly condemned the authorities and complained that the members of the survey team went to the area unannounced with the intention to enrage the people. He said that the government plans to turn the public’s attention from failed elections more recently. Residents of the area also claimed that the police were provocative through the use of force including use of batons, tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, which appear to have fueled the violence.
Aftermath of the Clashes
Unfuriated youths, merchants and the police engaged in a confrontational which saw halogen Surveillance cameras, privately owned cars, and police vehicles burn. There were some reports of women and children running away from the affected place due to possible wrath. “All the Muslim people are suffering for some cases,” added a local woman.
Out of the arrested, two of them are female; ten people were detained by the police concerning the violence. UP police chief Prashant Kumar said that the matter is not radical and security has been beefed up in the area. Additional chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya accused the Samajwadi Party hooligans for the ruckus while others urged to wait for the judicial verdict.
The ideological tensions are recurrent, the abovementioned religious sites.
It is not the first time when conflicts over places of worship have emerged in India, the recent example is in Sambhal. After The Supreme Court televized the Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid to Hindus in 2019 various pleas filed moved to give away the mosques claiming be taken on the demolition.
Indeed, the ayats vide the Sambhal case is similar to the Gyanvapi Masjid survey in Varanasi as the legal tussle continues to rage over the existence of a temple beneath the structure. Comparable controversies involve the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura also which is located adjacent to shrine of Krishna Janmasthan Temple.
Claims and Petitions of the Petitioners
As per Sambhal case one of the petitioner Jeetpal Singh Yadav said that the claim is based on Mughal literature such as Baburnama and Ain-i-Akbari. Another petitioner by the name Rishiraj Giri produced a map that he alleged was laid down many years ago that indicated the presence of a temple existing in the premises where the mosque is currently standing. “The court had a solid basis on which to order the action,” he said.
Supporters of the Hindu side identify this surveys as important for revealing the history, while the opponents noticed that these surveys represent attempts to divide the communities.
Call for Peace
Pakistani Islamic cleric Maulana Shahbuddin Razbi called on people to avoid violence and let the courts decide on the case. He stressed, “Election will only be gotten by legal means.” However, opposition figures and residents have urged more information on alleged police instigation of the violence.
Measures to Be Taken In Preparation For the Survey
Get anticipating the unrest, the district administration had earlier got bonded up to ₹ 10 lakh from 34 persons Prema inter alia the father of Samajwadi MP Ziaur Rahman Barq of Rampur. However, these interventions confirmed that managing such highly charged issues remained difficult.
Broader Implications
The riot in Sambhal proves that religious traditions remain an urgent issue in India. The conflict in this regards deepens not only the communal issues by making them turn more complex but also adds burden to judiciary system and force of law in order to establish justice plus peace. It becomes important that roads taken kind be explained to the public, and tensions be escalated in constructive discussions.
