Lucknow, Aug 28 (IANS) The three-member judicial committee, formed to investigate Sambhal violence, submitted its report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. The report, yet to be made public, will shed light on the reasons behind the November 2024 violence and is also expected to fix blame on the culprits behind the stir, which resulted in the deaths of four individuals and injuries to many others.  The probe report has started evoking reactions, even before being put in the public domain.

Vishnu Shankar Jain, senior advocate and one of the petitioners in the Sambhal case, said there was a coordinated plot to block the court-mandated survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team, and this was done with active connivance and support from the ‘foreign forces’. He stated that the ASI team found it very difficult to conduct the survey of the Mughal era mosque on November 19 and 24 last year, despite clear instructions from the Court. Claiming a foreign plot behind the Sambhal violence, he said that the attack on police personnel was pre-planned and done with an intention to eliminate the survey team, thwart the court order and stall any survey of the premises.

“Many disruptive and anti-national forces are active in Sambhal. The so-called vanguards of secularism should visit the city and see the ground reality,” he said. He further stated that the Shahi Jama Masjid used to be the Harihar temple in the past. It was demolished by the Mughal ruler Babar and then, in later years, was appropriated by the Muslim community, claiming it to be a mosque. The three-member judicial committee, in its 450-page report, has also reportedly shared insights on the declining Hindu population in Sambhal in the post-Independence era.

According to the report, during independence, Muslims and Hindus constituted about 55 per cent and 45 per cent of the population in the district, but currently, the Hindu population has declined to 15 per cent while the Muslim community has risen to 85 per cent. Responding to these findings, Vishnu Som said that Sambhal has seen dramatic demographic change over the years and added that the Hindu community has been made to live under constant fear and also forced to live as 'second-class citizens' in the city.