NEW DELHI: A fact-finding report has exposed what it describes as a calculated attempt by authorities in Uttar Pradesh to engineer communal violence in Sambhal, where a mosque survey in November 2024 ignited deadly unrest.
The 114-page report, “Sambhal: Anatomy of an Engineered Crisis — Myth, Violence, and the Weaponisation of Faith in a Muslim-Majority City”, jointly released by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Karwan-e-Mohabbat, warns that the crisis could turn Sambhal into “the new Ayodhya.”
According to the report, the sequence of events was set in motion by a local court’s sudden order on 19 November 2024 to survey the 16th-century Shahi Jama Masjid, following a petition by Hindu plaintiffs claiming the mosque was built over a demolished Hari Har temple, believed to be linked to Lord Kalki.
The order was passed within hours of the petition’s filing, without hearing the mosque management, in violation of legal norms and the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
Officials, including the district magistrate and police chief, oversaw the survey, which began the same evening. A second survey on 24 November, accompanied by a crowd shouting “Jai Shri Ram”, saw the mosque’s ablution tank drained — an act viewed as desecration that sparked mass protests.
Instead of engaging with community leaders or calming tensions, the police responded with lathi-charges, teargas, and gunfire.
Five Muslim men, including minors, were killed, dozens injured, and over 85 arrested. Eyewitnesses and videos cited in the report dispute police claims that protesters were armed, pointing instead to excessive and unlawful police force.
The violence, the report states, did not end on that day. In the following weeks, Muslim-majority neighbourhoods were subjected to raids, mass arrests, demolition drives, and punitive electricity crackdowns — moves described as “retaliatory bulldozer justice”.
Alleged encroachments were selectively targeted, and a large police outpost was hastily built at the mosque’s entrance. New Hindu temples were “discovered”, cleaned, and reopened for worship in Muslim localities, accompanied by official rituals and public statements portraying Muslims as historic usurpers.
Key Findings of the Report
Court survey ordered within hours of petition filing, without hearing mosque's side.
Police firing led to five deaths; families allege coercion to sign blank statements.
Post-violence crackdown: 85+ arrests, house raids, bulldozers razed Muslim properties.
New temples "discovered" and revived in Muslim areas, stoking tensions.
Chief Minister’s speeches inflamed the communal atmosphere.
Supreme Court stays survey actions; region remains tense.
The report highlights how administrative actions, combined with communal narratives, have systematically sought to rewrite Sambhal’s history. The town — home to 350,000 to 400,000 people of Turkic descent and historically peaceful despite its symbolic link to Kalki mythology — now faces state-backed efforts to recast it as a site of Hindu grievance.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s speeches have further inflamed tensions, the report notes, with exaggerated accounts of past riots and inflammatory calls for Muslims to “relinquish” mosques claimed to have been built over temples.
The Supreme Court has intervened, staying further surveys and trial proceedings, and sealing the survey report pending the Allahabad High Court’s decision. Yet, the report warns, Sambhal remains gripped by fear.
Victim families report intimidation, surveillance, and forced statements. Community members say routine government actions — from checking property records to electricity bills — have become tools of coercion.
Harsh Mander, who wrote the report’s foreword, compared the unfolding situation to the early stages of the Babri Masjid crisis.
“This is not a clash between Hindus and Muslims of Sambhal,” the report stresses. “It is a conflict between the state and its Muslim citizens.”
District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya dismissed the report as “a farce,” defending the administration’s actions as lawful measures to maintain peace.
But rights groups and legal experts argue that Sambhal’s crisis underscores the urgent need for upholding secular principles and protecting minority rights against the weaponisation of history and myth.
Timeline: How Sambhal Was Pushed to the Brink
19 November 2024
Eight Hindu petitioners filed a suit in a Sambhal court claiming the Shahi Jama Masjid was built over a demolished Hari Har temple.
The court orders a survey of the mosque, the same day, without hearing the mosque management.
The survey begins within hours, led by the district magistrate and police officials.
24 November 2024
The second survey was conducted without a fresh court order.
Officials accompanied by a slogan-shouting crowd; ablution tank drained at mosque, seen as desecration.
Protests erupt; police respond with lathis, tear gas, and gunfire.
Five Muslim men killed, dozens injured; 85+ arrested.
25–30 November 2024
Reports surface of coercion: families allege police forced them to sign blank papers to cover up police firing.
Mass raids and arrests continue in Muslim areas.
Bulldozer drives target alleged encroachments near mosque.
29 November 2024
Supreme Court stays further survey and trial court proceedings, orders sealing of survey report.
Orders state government to maintain peace and harmony.
December 2024 – March 2025
New temples “discovered” in Muslim-majority areas; administration and police participate in rituals.
Electricity crackdown and fines imposed disproportionately on Muslim homes and mosques.
Mosque committee petitions courts to halt official harassment.
January 2025
Allahabad High Court stays trial court proceedings on the survey until further orders.
Supreme Court bars new suits under Places of Worship Act, freezes interim orders in existing cases.
March – May 2025
Mosque committee battles restrictions on mosque cleaning and maintenance ahead of Ramadan.
High Court directs ASI to perform whitewashing, expenses to be borne by mosque committee.
June 2025
Tensions remain high as communities live under surveillance, and administrative pressure continues.
Rights groups warn of Sambhal becoming a new communal flashpoint like Ayodhya.
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