PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday accepted a verbal plea of the Hindu side lawyer to refer to the Sambhal Jama Masjid as a ‘disputed structure‘. However, the written order passed by Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal called it a ‘disputed mosque’.
Hearing an application moved by the mosque management committee seeking permission for whitewashing and cleaning of the masjid, the court on Tuesday fixed March 10, 2025 for the next hearing.
As the order for the day was being dictated by the court, counsel for the Hindu side — Hari Shankar Jain — requested the bench to refer to the mosque as a “disputed structure.” The court accepted his request and instructed his stenographer to use the term “disputed structure” for the mosque. However, the term ‘structure of disputed Masjid’ has been used by the court in the order passed on Tuesday.
According to Jain, this is a legal process and when there is a case about a disputed structure, it cannot be called a mosque or anything else until the court gives a decision.
When the matter was taken up, counsel for the masjid committee informed the court that he had filed his objection to the report of Archaeological Survey of India, on which the counsel for ASI sought time to reply the same. Earlier on Friday, the high court had directed the ASI to clean the premises but did not pass any order for whitewashing and painting.
The counsel for masjid committee also said that in pursuance of earlier order of the court, the cleaning work was going on under the supervision of the ASI.
The advocate general Arun Kumar Misra submitted before the court that the law and order had been maintained in and around the structure of the disputed masjid by the state authorities.
The matter is now scheduled to be heard on March 10, when the ASI will respond to the objections raised by the masjid committee regarding the ASI’s report, which denied any necessity for the whitewashing of the mosque.
On February, 28,2025 a report was submitted by Archaeological Survey of India to the effect that “the inspection was conducted in presence of Mutwallies of the Masjid and it was found that the interior of the mosque was painted with thick layers of enamel paint of sharp colours like golden, red, green and yellow concealing the original surface of the monument”.
According to the inspection taken, the modern enamel paint is still in good condition. The ASI report also enumerates that there seems to be some signs of deterioration at the entrance gate as well as in the chambers located behind and the northern side of the prayer hall.
SFA Naqvi, senior advocate appearing for the committee, asked for time to file counters and had also submitted that they only wanted whitewashing and lighting. On which, the court asked the ASI for cleaning the dust and overgrown grass in the premises.
Earlier, on Feb 27, the court directed the ASI to inspect the masjid site and submit its report by Friday, Feb 28.
The Sambhal mosque gained attention when unrest took place in the district on Nov 24, 2024, following a survey of the Mughal-era Jama Masjid by a team led by an advocate commissioner on the orders of a local court.
The violence, where protesters opposing the survey of the masjid clashed with security personnel, resulted in the deaths of four persons. The protesters torched vehicles and pelted the police with stones while the security personnel used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.
Later, the Uttar Pradesh govt constituted a three-member judicial commission comprising retired Allahabad HC judge Devendra Kumar Arora, retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain to enquire into the incident.