Akhilesh claims Sambhal victim's kin threatened by UP Police, seeks intervention of Supreme Court

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 and 2,750 unidentified individuals as accused

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday (November 28, 2024) urged the Supreme Court to take cognisance of allegations that the Uttar Pradesh Police threatened the kin of a Sambhal violence victim and took their thumb impression on a blank piece of paper.

He claimed the violence was "orchestrated" and sought to know whether "BJP activists, raising slogans, were accompanying the survey team" during its second visit to the Jama Masjid in Sambhal on Sunday (November 24, 2024).

The Sambhal Police has so far not reacted to Mr. Yadav's allegation.

Four people died and several others, including police personnel, were injured in a confrontation that erupted last Sunday over a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Kot Garvi area in Sambhal district.

In a post on X, Mr. Yadav attached a media report in which the family members of Naeem, one of the four killed in the violence, claimed that on the night of November 25 -- a day after violence erupted in Sambhal -- around 20 policemen came to their house and warned them against talking to the media.

In the report, Naeem's brother Tasleem also alleged that the police took his thumb impression on a blank piece of paper. Tasleem claimed he was illiterate and was apprehensive about what the police would write on the blank paper on which his thumb impression was taken.

"Threatening someone and taking their thumb impression on a blank paper is also a crime. The honourable Supreme Court should take immediate cognisance and punish all those responsible for this incident by taking punitive action against the guilty government and administration," Mr. Yadav said in his post in Hindi.

"Only the court will ensure justice," he added.

Later, on the sidelines of a private event in Ambedkar Nagar district, Mr. Yadav claimed that the violence was "orchestrated" and asked whether BJP activists, while raising slogans, were accompanying the mosque survey team.

"If we examine the sequence of events in Sambhal, on November 19, the court issued an order sanctioning the mosque survey. During the first survey, neither members of the Muslim community nor any Sambhal residents raised objections.

"I am perplexed about the rationale behind conducting a subsequent survey. If another survey was deemed necessary, the local administration should have consulted and engaged with the stakeholders beforehand. They failed to initiate any dialogue with the authorities concerned," the former chief minister said.

He asked, "Whether the BJP activists were not accompanying the survey team. The administration is concealing the reality. All those who were accompanying the survey team were chanting slogans. Was the administration's eyes deliberately shut and that led to riot and deaths?" The Kannauj Lok Sabha MP said he hoped the Supreme Court would take cognisance of all these incidents suo motu and examine "why such a conspiracy was orchestrated".

In a veiled attack on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the Samajwadi Party chief claimed that there was a wedge in the BJP's leadership in Delhi and Lucknow.

"Someone has ascended to Delhi through similar means, destroying brotherhood, peace and harmony. Today 'Lucknow waley' also aspire to reach Delhi following the identical path," Yadav said.

"The people are getting caught in the middle of this conflict between Lucknow and Delhi," he said. "We have to see who will follow the 'Raj Dharma'; the government is hiding its incompetence." The four people who died in the violence on Sunday have been identified as Naeem, Bilal, Noman, and Kaif.

Naeem, who ran a sweetmeat shop, is survived by two sons and two daughters. Tasleem had earlier said that Naeem was out buying groceries when he was killed.

"He was buying refined oil and 'maida' when the violence broke out. He did not even know about it. Police killed him," Tasleem said.

Tension had been brewing in Sambhal since November 19 when the mosque was first surveyed on the court's orders following a petition claiming that a Harihar temple had stood at the site.

On Sunday, a large group of people gathered near the mosque and started shouting slogans as the survey team resumed its work. They then clashed with security personnel, torched vehicles, and pelted stones.

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.

Published - November 28, 2024 09:32 am IST