Violence in Sambhal over Mosque survey
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: The toll in Sunday’s large-scale violence in communally sensitive Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal town during the court ordered survey of a mosque, went up to four with one more person succumbing to bullet injuries even as internet services were snapped in the district and a ban was imposed on the entry of outsiders.
According to the police sources, 1500 people, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) Lok Sabha member from Sambhal Jia-ur-Rehman Burq, were booked in connection with the violence.
Moradabad divisional commissioner Anjenya Kumar Singh said that the situation was ‘peaceful’ and that the investigation was on.
Sources said that Burq and his son were charged with instigating the mob, which indulged in heavy stone pelting and torched several vehicles while protesting against the survey of the Jama Masjid.
The officials said that if needed, the NSA would be slapped on the troublemakers. So far around 1500 people have been booked in connection with the violence.
Tension prevailed in the town as a large contingent of security personnel continued patrolling the sensitive areas. They also conducted a flag march in the areas which were rocked by violence on Sunday.
The toll in the violence reached four with one more person succumbing to bullet injuries. Police however denied having opened fire on the mob and said that the victims might have been killed in firing by the protesters.
The opposition SP and Congress accused the BJP government of inciting the violence to what they claimed ‘divert’ attention from the charges of misuse of official machinery during the recent assembly by-polls.
Four persons were killed and several others, including cops, injured as a mob pelted stones and torched vehicles prompting the police to fire tear gas shells in the town, about 400 kilometres from here, on Sunday during a court-ordered survey of a famous mosque after some Hindu plaintiffs claimed that the mosque had been constructed after demolishing a temple during the Mughal period.
Thousands of people assembled before the Jama Masjid in Sambhal when the court-appointed advocate commissioner reached to conduct the survey on Sunday morning and raised slogans against the survey.
The district had ordered a survey of the mosque by an Advocate Commissioner after Hindu plaintiffs claimed that the famous Harihar Temple existed where the mosque stood now and that the mosque was built after demolishing the temple.