Sambhal mandir-masjid row: Allahabad High Court stays trial court proceedings till February 25

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the proceedings going on in trial court in the Harihar temple-Shahi Jama masjid dispute case in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal. The Allahabad High Court ordered the halt of trial proceedings while hearing the petition of the Intezamia Committee of Sambhal's disputed Shahi Jama Masjid.

The court also directed all the parties in the case, including the Uttar Pradesh government, to file their response within four weeks. Subsequently, in response to the parties' response, the mosque committee will have to file a rejoinder in the court within the next two weeks.

The mosque committee's petition was heard by the single bench of Justice Ranjan Agarwal. On the next hearing, which is on February 25, the proceedings will be taken up as fresh case. 

Sambhal dispute and violence

It must be noted that the case in the Sambhal district court was filed on November 19 by Advocate Harishankar Jain and others. They have argued in their plea that the site of Shahi Jama Masjid was of Harihar temple in the past. While hearing this case, the district court had ordered a survey.

The survey was undertaken by the authorised team but during the second survey, the team along with the police came under heavy attack by a mob of miscreants. The violence escalated which led to the killing of four miscreants while nearly 20 policemen were injured. A miscreant had also shot at the Circle Officer (CO) during the clashes. Subsequently, the police launched a massive crackdown and arrested over 50 accused in the case. The man who shot at the CO was also arrested later.