The Supreme Court on November 29 asked Uttar Pradesh to ensure “harmony and peace” in Sambhal and directed the trial court there not to proceed in the suit against the Jama Masjid till the petition filed by the Masjid Committee against the survey order is listed in the High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar directed that the report of the advocate commissioner, who conducted the survey of the mosque, should be kept in a sealed cover and should not be opened in the meantime.
“Peace and harmony have to be maintained. We don’t want anything to happen… We have to be absolutely, totally neutral and ensure nothing wrong is done,” said the bench at the outset.
The top court was hearing the plea of the Committee of Management of Jama Masjid in Sambhal against the November 19 order of the local court for the survey of the mosque.
As the matter came for hearing, the bench told senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the mosque committee, that they had to approach the High Court challenging the order passed by the trial court for the survey instead of directly approaching the Supreme Court.
“We have some reservations against the order, but still you have to approach the appropriate forum,” the apex court told Huzefa.
It suggested that the mosque committee challenge the order before the High Court as per the procedure and ordered that no further steps shall be taken by the trial court till January 8, 2025.
The bench, however, kept the matter pending before it and posted it for hearing in the week commencing from January 6.
The Committee, in its plea, contended that the report of the survey commissioner should be kept on a sealed cover and the status quo maintained until the present petition is finalised.
“Surveys should not be ordered and executed as a matter of course in cases involving disputes over places of worship without hearing all parties and allowing sufficient time to the aggrieved persons to seek judicial remedies against the order of survey,” it stated.
On November 19, the civil judge, senior division, directed the court commissioner to do a survey of the mosque and file the report in the court. The Masjid Committee moved the apex court directly, citing “extraordinary situation.”
The petition has been filed under Section 136 of the Constitution, in which the Supreme Court has the power to directly adjudicate any matter.
“It is under these extraordinary circumstances that the Petitioner/Managing Committee is beseeching this Court to kindly intervene and stay the proceedings of the civil suit pending before the civil judge (senior division), Sambhal at Chandausi. The hot haste in which the survey was allowed and conducted all within a day and suddenly another survey was conducted with a notice of barely six hours, has given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatens the secular and democratic fabric of the nation,” the petition stated.
It further added, “Since the rampant ordering of surveys where belated claims on mosques are made is emerging as a pattern, it has become necessary for this court, in the interest of the constitutional goal of fraternity and in order to do complete justice, to pass directions that surveys should not be ordered and executed as a matter of routine in cases involving different communities over places of worship without hearing the defendants and without allowing sufficient time to the aggrieved persons to seek judicial remedies against the order of survey.”
Lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain who is representing the Hindu side in the Sambhal dispute case on Friday, said that the Supreme Court had asked the mosque committee to approach the High Court.
Speaking to the media, Jain said “The Supreme Court has said that peace and harmony should be maintained in Sambhal. The Supreme Court has passed an order directing the Masjid or mosque committee to approach the High Court and challenge the order of the trial court.” Further, he added that the SC had also directed the advocate commissioner to file his report in a sealed cover.
“The court has directed the advocate Commissioner to file his report in a sealed cover. The court has said that it does not express any opinion on the merits of the case. SC has asked the Masjid Committee to challenge the order in the Allahabad High Court and the same is filed and should be listed before the HC in three working days. There is a limited stay on the trial court proceedings in the case,” he added.
Speaking on the Supreme Court that also asked the state government to ensure law and order, UP Dy CM KP Maurya said, “The government follows the orders given by the Supreme Court. Samajwadi Party does the work to violate the SC orders. I advise goons and rioters of the Samajwadi Party to not disturb the atmosphere else their party will sink…”
Meanwhile, ahead of the submission of the survey report of the Jama Masjid by the ASI team in the District Court, Vishnu Kumar Sharma, a lawyer representing the Government of India and ASI, said that the reply by them would be filed in the court today. “We might file our reply in the court today..” Sharma said.
The manner in which the survey was ordered in this case and has been ordered in some other cases will have an immediate impact in a number of cases across the country that have been filed recently concerning places of worship where such orders will have a tendency to inflame communal passions, cause law and order problems and damage the secular fabric of the country, it said.
Tensions in Sambhal had been simmering since the local court ordered a survey of the mosque on November 19. Opposing the court-ordered survey of the Jama Masjid people clashed with police, resulting in the deaths of four persons. The survey followed a petition filed by some persons in the local court, claiming that the site of the mosque was previously a Harihar Mandir.
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