Allahabad HC grants bail to Sambhal mosque committee chief

Sambhal Jama Masjid committee president Zafar Ali, who was arrested in connection with the violence that broke out during a survey of the 16th-century mosque in November last year, was granted bail.

Ali was arrested on March 24 on charges of “inciting violence and attempting to obstruct” the civil court-appointed Commission’s survey in the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid. The violence left four people dead and several injured.

The FIR named Zia-Ur-Rahman Barq, son of a sitting MP, and Suhail Iqbal as the primary accused. Zafar Ali was not originally among them.

On July 25, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Ali, noting there was not enough evidence that linked him to the violence and concluding that his incarceration was not justified.