Sambhal mosque row: SC instructs U.P. Police, district administration to ‘be absolutely neutral, maintain peace and harmony’

Supreme Court freezes civil court proceedings till case is listed before HC

The Supreme Court on Friday (November 29, 2024) gave a stern instruction to the Uttar Pradesh Police and Sambhal district administration to be “totally, absolutely neutral” and maintain peace after a civil court-ordered survey to verify claims of a mosque built over a destroyed temple in the 16th century, unleashed violence, loss of lives, arrests amidst communal tension.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar ordered the civil to freeze the proceedings before it. The Supreme Court directed the mosque survey report prepared by the civil court’s Advocate Commissioner to be kept in a sealed cover.

Also read | Supreme Court urged to intervene in mosques-dargah survey orders by lower courts

The apex court arraigned a series of legal measures open to the petitioner, Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee, which managed the mosque.

Chief Justice Khanna said the committee could file a plea under Order 9 Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure to set aside the ex-parte order of the civil court on November 19 to conduct the survey or seek revision of the order or approach the Allahabad High Court invoking its power of superintendence over lower courts under Article 227 of the Constitution.

The Bench made it clear that the trial court would not hold any proceedings till the petition, if any, filed by the committee is listed and heard by the High Court. The High Court, if a petition is filed against the civil court order, must list it for hearing within three days.

The Chief Justice Khanna meanwhile made sure the authorities knew the apex court had its eyes trained on the happenings in the case. Instead of disposing of the case, the CJI ordered the committee’s petition to be listed in the week commencing on January 6, 2025.

“Be sure that you maintain the peace and harmony. It is very important that you be absolutely, totally neutral,” Chief Justice Khanna addressed Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh.

The Bench instructed Mr. Nataraj to not file any further papers or documents in the civil court. The Sambhal court had scheduled the next date of hearing on January 8.

The Chief Justice Bench said it would not want to comment on the merits of the case.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the committee, said the community had 10 similar civil suits pending in various courts across the country. Mr. Ahmadi said he wanted to address the court on the identical “modus operandi” followed in each of these suits concerning claims of mosques built on destroyed ancient temples. He said these suits have seen local courts order survey of mosques to verify such claims. The CJI orally reiterated that the civil court in the Sambhal case would not proceed with the suit before it for now.

Mr. Ahmadi’s submissions follow a recent order of the Rajasthan court agreeing to examine a petition submitted by the Hindu Sena claiming Ajmer Sharif Dargah to be Lord Shiva’s temple.

The past months have seen a court-monitored survey ordered of the Shahi Idgah adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura. Again, an advocate commissioner’s survey ordered by a Varanasi court in May 2022 of the Gyanvapi mosque had resulted in claims of having found a shivling within the premises. The local court in Varanasi had ordered the survey on the basis of claims made by Hindu petitioners that the entire area of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi belonged to a temple of Swayambhu Lord Adi Vishweshwar since Satyug. They had claimed that the temple, which once stood on the Gyanvapi plot, was brought down by the “Farman of Emperor Aurangazeb in the year 1669”.

Similarly, the Sambhal court had ex parte ordered a survey on the basis of the Hindu plaintiffs’ claim that the Shahi Jama Masjid at Chandausi was built by Mughal emperor Babar in 1526 after demolishing a temple.

In the apex court, the mosque committee had highlighted how the survey seemed ton have been ordered in “hot haste”.

The committee has invoked the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which protects the identities of religious places of all faiths.

It claimed the mosque was an ancient monument and protected site. It said the extraordinary situation in this case had compelled the committee to approach the apex court directly.

Published - November 29, 2024 02:45 pm IST