The Sambhal Jama Masjid committee has moved the Supreme Court on Thursday, November 28 to challenge a trial court’s order for a survey of the mosque in a case claiming it was built on the site of a destroyed temple.
The matter will be heard tomorrow by a bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar.
A petition was filed by senior advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain in the district court who alleged the Jama Masjid of Sambhal is allegedly a temple. After a hearing on the same day, the civil judge ordered a photographic and videographic survey of the mosque and asked for its report to be presented before it on November 29.
4 killed in violence on Sunday
During the Sambhal Jama Masjid survey on November 24, the crowd clashed with police as they resisted a survey team accompanied by a Hindutva mob chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans. The police opened fire at the protests, resulting in the killing of Noman, Naeem, 28, and Mohd Bilal Ansari, 25. A fourth injured person died on November 25.
Police alleged the protesters tried to torch government vehicles, pelted stones at them and gunshots were also fired. “We are investigating where the shots were fired from, particularly in the Deepa Sarai area,” said a police officer.
So far, police have arrested 25 people so far and registered seven FIRs, naming the Samajwadi Party’s Sambhal MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, and Sohail Iqbal — son of the party’s local MLA Iqbal Mehmood — and 2,750 unidentified individuals as accused.
Following the violent clashes during the Sambhal Jama Masjid survey, a public interest litigation (PIL) was submitted to the Allahabad High Court on November 28 calling for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to launch an investigation into the incident.
The petition also requests the establishment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by a retired high court judge to thoroughly investigate these officials’ roles in the incident. On the day of the violence, tensions escalated as protesters clashed with police when they attempted to conduct the survey.
History of Sambhal Jama Masjid
The Jama Masjid in Sambhal is one of three mosques commissioned by Mughal Emperor Babur during his reign from 1526 to 1530 alongside the mosques in Panipat and the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya which was demolished in 1992.
Built around 1528 by Babur’s general, Mir Hindu Beg, the Sambhal mosque is situated atop a hill in the heart of Sambhal.
As historian Howard Crane described in his essay ‘The Patronage of Babur and the Origins of Mughal Architecture’, the Sambhal Jama Masjid features a sanctuary with a large square mihrab hall supported by arches to the north and south and covered by a dome on squinches. Constructed from stone masonry and plaster, its façade closely resembles the mosque in Budaun.
The Masjid was repaired twice during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan in the 17th century.
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