Sambhal Dispute: SC gives two weeks to mosque committee to respond on UP's status report

New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted two-week time to the Committee of Management, Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal, to file its response on a status report of Uttar Pradesh authorities which said the disputed well is located outside mosque.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar asked the committee to file affidavit while hearing an application filed by it to ensure that status quo is maintained with respect to the private well situated near the stairs/entrance of the mosque.
Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government and authorities, told the bench that the well was situated after a police post (chowki), totally outside the mosque.
Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the mosque committee, said the president of the mosque committee Zafar Ali was in jail.
The bench said, "Take a 'mulaqat' (meeting with an inmate in jail) and do it. Somebody else can also file the response. Please do it in two weeks only."
On January 10, the apex court directed the Sambhal district magistrate to maintain status quo on reviving or allowing prayers at the well.
During the hearing, the bench asked Huzefa, "Tell us, wells are used by everybody. Wells are something which are normally never closed."
Huzefa said well is closed by cement, it was never opened from the top, and water was only drawn from inside the well by the mosque.
Advocate added it's not only about opening the well but also about performing religious ceremonies by the other side.
Mosque committee had filed an application seeking direction to the District Magistrate to ensure that status quo is maintained with respect to the private well situated near the stairs/entrance of the mosque.
The application of the committee said posters have also been put up around Sambhal and near the mosque indicating purportedly the location of historical wells and therein the mosque has been shown as a temple.
"District Administration, Sambhal is conducting a purported drive to revive old temples and wells in the city with reports indicating that at least 32 old unused temples have been revived and 19 wells have been identified which are being made operational for public prayers/use," the application stated.
"The District Administration, in its purported drive for the so-called revival of old temples and wells, is giving publicity to the proposed public access being granted to the use of the well, claiming the said wells to have religious significance," it added.
The mosque committee said that it has apprehensions and has already given a legal notice on December 16, 2024 to the District Administration in this regard.
In November 2024, the top court had stayed the trial court proceedings in the case, directing it to not to hear the matter until the petition filed by the mosque committee against the survey order is listed in the Allahabad High Court.
Tensions in Sambhal had simmered after the local court ordered a survey of the mosque on November 19. Opposing the court-ordered survey of the Jama Masjid people clashed with police, resulting in the death of four persons.
The survey followed a petition filed by some persons in the local court, claiming that the site of the mosque was previously a Harihar temple, dedicated to Kalki, the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and built in 1526 after demolishing the temple. (ANI)