Sambhal Violence: Agitation ‘Pre-Planned’, Mob Wanted To Attack Survey Team, Says Court Commissioner
News india Sambhal Violence: Agitation ‘Pre-Planned’, Mob Wanted To Attack Survey Team, Says Court Commissioner Sambhal Violence: Agitation ‘Pre-Planned’, Mob Wanted To Attack Survey Team
News india Sambhal Violence: Agitation ‘Pre-Planned’, Mob Wanted To Attack Survey Team, Says Court Commissioner Sambhal Violence: Agitation ‘Pre-Planned’, Mob Wanted To Attack Survey Team, Says Court Commissioner Published By, Last Updated: August 07, 2026, 10:40 IST The commission said postmortem and ballistic reports indicated that the four fatalities were caused by.315-bore firearms. The report pertains to the violence that broke out on November 24, 2024, during the second phase of a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid following a petition claiming that the mosque had been built over the site of an ancient Harihar temple. Sambhal Violence: A day after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly tabled the judicial commission’s report on the November 2024 Sambhal violence, Court Commissioner Ramesh Singh Raghav alleged that the mob had gathered with the intention of attacking the survey team and preventing the completion of the court-ordered exercise at the Shahi Jama Masjid. Raghav, who was appointed by the civil court to conduct the survey, said the second phase of the exercise on November 24 was conducted amid a large gathering outside the mosque, with sounds of firing heard during the proceedings. Intention Was To Attack Survey Team Recalling the survey proceedings, Raghav said the first phase on November 19 lasted around two hours before it was halted due to prayer time and the gathering of a large number of people. The survey resumed on November 24 and continued for around two-and-a-half hours. “The second survey on November 24 lasted about two-and-a-half hours. I was inside the mosque along with advocates Vishnu Shankar Jain and Vishnu Sharma.
During the survey, sounds of firing could be heard from outside," he said as quoted by news agency PTI. The administration escorted them out through the main gate via the Hindu locality after the survey was completed, Raghav added. “In my view, the crowd wanted to disrupt the survey and attack the survey team so that the court-ordered exercise could not be completed," he said. Commission Calls Violence ‘Pre-Planned Conspiracy’ The judicial commission, constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government after the violence, concluded that the clashes during the court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid were the result of a pre-planned conspiracy and praised the police and civil administration for preventing the unrest from escalating into wider communal riots across the state and the country. The panel said misinformation, organised mobilisation, opposition to the survey and provocative public messaging contributed to the escalation of tensions. The commission also praised the police and civil administration for containing the violence and preventing it from turning into wider communal unrest across Uttar Pradesh and the country. According to the report, the first survey on November 19 faced interruptions after large crowds gathered inside and outside the mosque premises. The exercise could not be completed and was postponed. Ahead of the rescheduled survey, police held meetings with religious leaders and peace committee members and appealed for cooperation. However, the commission noted a surge in social media messages on November 21 and 22 calling on people to assemble at the mosque. This was followed by an unusually large turnout for Friday prayers. The report also referred to remarks allegedly made by Sambhal MP Zia-ur-Rahman Barq at the mosque on November 22, saying his statements created an impression among worshippers that the survey threatened the existence of the mosque.
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