Sambhal Mosque Committee Moves SC Against ASI Survey Order; CJI Khanna To Hear Matter On Friday

The plea has been filed seeking an ex-parte stay on the operation of the November 19 order passed by the civil judge. A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna is set to hear the plea on Friday.

A bench headed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna will hear the plea filed by Sambhal Mosque Committee on Friday.

Source : ANI

The management committee of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal has moved the Supreme Court on Thursday against the survey order of a district court on November 19, which directed a survey of the Mughal-era mosque. The plea will be heard by the apex court on Friday.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna is scheduled to hear the plea filed by the committee, the cause list of November 29 uploaded on the apex court's website noted. The plea has been filed seeking an ex-parte stay on the operation of the November 19 order passed by the civil judge.

On Sunday, violence broke out as people protesting against the court-ordered ASI survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal clashed with security personnel, which led to stone pelting and arson. Four people died in the clashes and several others, inluding police personnel, were injured in the violence.

Tensions had been simmering in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal since November 19 when a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid was carried out following a court order based on claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.

"The hot haste in which the survey was allowed and conducted all within a day and suddenly another survey was conducted with a notice of barely six hours has given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatens the secular and democratic fabric of the nation," it said.

The plea filed in the Supreme Court stated that the way in which the survey was ordered in this case and in some other matters will have a direct impact on the numerous cases recently filed across India regarding places of worship where these orders will have a "tendency to inflame communal passions, cause law and order problems and damage the secular fabric of the country".

The plea has also requested that the report of the survey commissioner must be kept in a sealed cover and that status quo be maintained until the matter is decided upon.

It further seeks the apex court's direction on the matter that surveys should not be ordered without hearing all parties and that sufficient time must be granted to the aggrieved persons to get judicial remedies against survey orders.

It also noted that the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal's Chandausi has been standing since the 16th century and has been used by the Muslims as a place of worship.

"While there had been no dispute so far with regard to the aforesaid Jama Masjid, a suit was filed on November 19, 2024, by eight plaintiffs terming the Jama Masjid 'Shri Hari Har Temple' and seeking, inter alia, directions that the plaintiffs have a right to access qua the Jama Masjid and further seeking injunction against the defendants from creating any hurdle in the access of the mosque which the plaintiffs term as a temple," it said.

The plea stated that the civil judge on November 19 heard the suit ex-parte and allowed the application seeking the appointment of an advocate commissioner for a the mosque survey within hours.

"The order dated November 19, 2024, also contained no reasons at all as to why such an application was being considered ex-parte and why was it being allowed the same day," the plea stated.

"Evidently, the above-said order directs a survey 'as per the application' and has given neither any reasons nor any terms of reference for the survey," it added.

It claimed that the advocate commissioner, along with a police force and others, reached the mosque to conduct a survey within two hours of the order. The survey started at 6 PM and continued till 8.30 PM, it said.

"While the petitioners were preparing for their legal remedies against the ex-parte order and the survey on November 19, just before the midnight of November 23/24, 2024, the circle officer came to inform the president of the petitioner committee that suddenly another survey will be conducted the next morning i.e. November 24, 2024," the plea claimed.

The plea stated that the petitioner did not get the chance to fully comprehend and avail any remedies against the second survey as by 6.15 AM on November 24, the survey commissioner had arrived at the spot with heavy police presence and advocates of the plaintiffs to get on with the survey.

"The hot haste in which the matter proceeded and a subsequent survey was suddenly conducted, gave rise to apprehensions in the mind of the residents of the area, which brought them outside their house. As per reports, the police opened fire at the protesting citizens and six innocent lives have been lost as a result of firing with many injured," it claimed.

The petitioner, referring to the "extraordinary circumstances", has urged the Supreme Court to intervene and stay the civil suit proceedings pending before the civil judge.

(With inputs from news agency PTI)