File photo
The Allahabad High Court on Monday said the survey at a mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal will continue, rejecting the petition filed by the Muslim side. A single bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal also said the order to appoint a court commissioner and the suit were maintainable.
The case centred around a civil revision petition filed by the Jama Masjid Management Committee, challenging the maintainability of a suit that led to a survey order by the Sambhal Civil Court.
The committee contested the lower court's decision dated November 19, 2024, which directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), along with an Advocate Commissioner, to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid premises.
Following the civil court's order, a preliminary survey was initiated on the same day, November 19, and continued on November 24.
However, the situation escalated during the second round of the survey, resulting in violence that left four people dead. The civil court then ordered the submission of the survey report by November 29.
In response, the mosque committee approached the Allahabad High Court, which held its first hearing on January 8. On the same day, the court issued an interim stay on the civil court's survey directive and also stayed proceedings in the original suit pending before the lower court.
The suit was filed by Hari Shanker Jain and seven others before a civil judge in Sambhal, contending the mosque was built after demolishing a temple at Sambhal.
The mosque, they claimed, was built by Mughal emperor Babur in 1526 after demolishing the Harihar Mandir in Sambhal.
