SAMBHAL : Anatomy Of An Engineered Crisis
A very detailed Report on Sambhal Violence of last year, which claimed 5 lives by Association For Protection Of Civil Rights (APCR). A 120 Page report which discusses everything under the Sun.
Last Year, end of November and December; entire Nation was gripped by what was happening at Sambhal in Uttar-Pradesh. Things got heated so much that, it looked like things would take a very ominous turn, like 1992.
While we are used to scrolling through Headlines of such incidents (for those of us, who still read a couple of newspapers daily), as it does not affect us directly; if we dig deeper into the scheme of things, we find that, it does affect all of us Indians.
While India attained its Independence in 1947 and the Occupiers who used their Cardinal rule of “Divide & Conquer” left; It’s 2025 and still India is gripped with “Divide & Rule” in terms of Religion; which is no different than that of Occupiers of Pre-Independence era.
This Report by APCR, gives anyone interested in INDIA, a clear perspective on how in a Town of Muslim Majority population of 77%, things got flared up so badly; that entire nation was on the verge of getting engulfed in an Inferno of religious hatred and violence.
While the Report is 120 pages long; Just reading the First 66 Pages, would give you a clear perspective on What happened, Why it happened; and probably then you can guess Who did it? The CURIOUS ONES would read the report in it’s entirety.
Some Snippets from the Report :
The Sambhal mosque is the oldest surviving Mughal mosque in India, a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and a monument of national importance.
Its history is intertwined with that of Sambhal. It came into being when Sambhal was won over by Babar and made the first capital of the Mughals. Only two mosques built during Babur’s reign survive today: the Jama Masjid in Sambhal and the Kabuli Bagh mosque in Panipat.
Sambhal, in many ways, is a Muslim stronghold. It is Muslim by face and by fabric. With 77.67% of Muslims, it has a Muslim majority.
What else crops up here is the fact that Sambhal, however, in times before Qutub-ud-din-Aibak came to India, was a Hindu city, both by population and culture. The scriptures tell the legend that it will be the birthplace of Kalki. Kalki, the tenth version of Vishnu, will be his final incarnation.
Kalki is supposed to end Kaliyuga, a time in the dark, degenerating, and chaotic time, to usher in the next, Satya Yuga. As such, it holds importance for Hindus and is a major religious site.
Hindus believe Kalki will take birth in the Hari Har temple, and they believe that the original Hari Har temple was constructed in ancient times, and it was still standing when Babar came to India, won over India, and made Sambhal his first capital. They believe Babar had ordered the temple to be destroyed and in its place, a mosque to be made.
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act was enacted by Parliament in 1991, and it bars the conversion of places of worship of any religious community into a place of worship of a different religious community. It declares that the religious character of a place of worship existing on August 15, 1947, shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day.
The Act further provides that any suit or appeal seeking to convert the religious character of a place of worship existing on August 15,1947, pending before any court or tribunal, shall abate on the commencement of the Act.
It also states that no suit or appeal relating to this matter shall be filed in any court after the commencement of the Act, and any suit alleging that the religious character of a place of worship has been converted after August 15, 1947, will be determined in terms of this Act.
However, the constitutionality of this Act is under challenge in the Supreme Court of India. A petition was filed in 2020 challenging the constitutional validity of the Act.
A close reading of the provisions of the Act reveals that what has been prohibited is not merely the act of conversion but also fresh surveys to establish the religious character of a place of worship. As that stands settled, any attempt to resurrect the dispute and obtain an order from the court would be clearly in violation of the Act.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has its office in Meerut, which is over a hundred kilometers from Sambhal. It takes at least three hours to drive from Meerut to Sambhal.
A 5 member team from ASI was available within three hours of the court order for the survey execution. The lawyer of the mosque committee, Shakeel Ahmed Warsi has remarked that he has never seen orders implemented so quickly and alleged, “It was not a unique case. It has been made unique.
There is a conspiracy behind this by people who want to disrupt the peace”. Both the government lawyers - Prince Sharma, who, defying norms, neither objected to the survey nor sought more time, and advocate commissioner Raghav, who oversaw the execution of the surveys, have affiliations with Hindutva outfits.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed on 27th November 2024 in the Allahabad High Court by the Association for Protectionof Civil Rights (APCR), represented by its Joint Secretary Advocate Aabha Shukla, concerning police violence and alleged rights violations in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
The incident followed protests during a second court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid on 24 November 2024, in a dispute claiming the mosque was once a Kalki temple.
While the first survey was peaceful, the second triggered unrest amid rumors of desecration. A police lathi charge escalated tensions, allegedly provoking violence. Police then opened indiscriminate fire, killing five people.
The Link To The Report :
Sambhal: Anatomy Of An Engineered Crisis
PS 1: If you do read the first 66 Pages of this report, please write in comments, how this report has changed your view on entire unfortunate incident which happened in Sambhal last year.
PS 2: Those CURIOUS ONES, who read the Report in it’s entirety, please comment with “Yes, I read All 120!”; and then questions would be asked from them, here only.