NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday heightened security in several districts after state Congress chief Ajay Rai announced that Rahul Gandhi along with 5 other Congress MPs will visit Sambhal.
Meanwhile, prohibitory orders are in place in the district until December 10. Curbs under section 163 (power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were set to expire on Sunday in Sambhal and have now been extended till December 31.
Sambhal DM directs officials to stop Rahul Gandhi
Earlier on Tuesday, Sambhal district magistrate Rajendra Pensia wrote a letter to e police commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad and the superintendents of police of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi at the borders of their districts.
A Congress party delegation, however, slipped into Sambhal and met some families of those who died in Nov 24 violence and were about to leave the district.
The delegation included the general secretary of UP Congress Committee (UPCC) Sachin Chaudhary and its vice-president Rizwan Qureshi along with the national secretary of All India Congress Committee Pradeep Narwal and a few members of Gandhi’s team.
They also facilitated a phone call between Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the victims’ kin. A delegation from Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) also visited the violence-hit town and provided “financial assistance, cheques of Rs 5 lakh each, to the families of the deceased later at a local madrassa”.
Congress delegation stopped
This comes two days after a Congress delegation led by Ajay Rai was prevented from leaving for Sambhal, which has been out of bounds for parties after the Nov 24 violence.
As soon as the Congress functionaries came out of the party headquarters, UP police stopped them on the grounds that the party’s request for visit had been denied by the Sambhal district administration.
What led to clashes?
At least 5 people were dead and several others, including over 20 police personnel, were injured in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal after violent clashes erupted following a court-mandated survey of the Mughal-era Jama Masjid.
The survey was ordered following a petition filed by senior advocate Vishnu Shanker Jain, claiming that the mosque was originally a temple.
The tension started after a large group of people gathered near the mosque and started shouting slogans as the survey team began their work in the Shahi Jama Masjid.
The protesters tried to torch vehicles and pelted stones at the police who used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.
“Gunshots were fired by the miscreants and some pellets struck our policemen. We are investigating where the shots were fired from, particularly in the Deepa Sarai area,” an officer said.
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal over the past few days after the Jama Masjid was surveyed last Tuesday on the orders of a local court following a petition that claimed that a Harihar temple stood at the site.
“Some miscreants in the crowd threw stones at the police team. The police used minor force and tear gas to bring the situation under control,” Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Vishnoi said.
“We are in the process of registering an FIR in the incident. The accused will also be booked under the NSA,” the police officer added.
Petitioner Vishnu Shankar Jain had said the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) ordered the constitution of an “Advocate Commission” to survey the mosque. The court has said that a report should be filed after conducting a videography and photography survey through the commission, he had said.